


(I'm Dreaming of a) One Night Inn

by lululawrence



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, American AU, American Harry Styles, American Louis Tomlinson, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Endgame Larry, Farmer Louis Tomlinson, Feelings, Flirting, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Holiday Inn AU, Humor, Karaoke, Lack of Communication, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Greg James/Louis Tomlinson, Miscommunication, No Smut, OT5 Friendship (One Direction), Pining, Punk Louis Tomlinson, References to Cheating, Rock Star Louis Tomlinson, Singer-Songwriter Harry Styles, Travel, but it ends quickly I promise, hope that's not what you're here for, not by one of the 1d guys and not between any of the 1d guys, ridiculous use of the song White Christmas because i can, that also doesn't last long, the film NOT the broadway musical that was sub par at best imo, there's a lot of tags for this but if you know holiday inn, they make sense alright, yes they're all american sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:21:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 54,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27819691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: When everything Louis had planned for his life falls through, and on his birthday no less, he's left with no other option but to regroup and start over again. The road of life isn't always straight and it certainly isn't always easy, but sometimes it's those twists and turns that find you your closest friends and—if you'rereallylucky—the love of your life.Louis just happens to be very lucky.A Holiday Inn AU.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Comments: 555
Kudos: 225





	1. Christmas Eve 2022

**Author's Note:**

> One upon a time, baby Sus was introduced to the movie White Christmas. She already loved Bing Crosby, so loving that film wasn't a stretch by any means. Many years later, she found the film Holiday Inn. There is... very much a lot to do with that particular film that is VERY not okay for many reasons, but the overall story and idea behind the film was wonderful and Irving Berlin's music was stunning! Come on, it was the music from that film that inspired two separate films (White Christmas and Easter Parade). Slightly Older Sus was amazed and had a new Christmas movie to add to her favorites. 
> 
> When contemplating what to write for my advent fic this year, I was talking with [Jenna](https://jaerie.tumblr.com) and we got on a rant about how everyone always underestimates how easy farming is, which of course reminds me of Bing Crosby crooning about wasting away his days being lazy on his farm at the beginning of the film. I then mentioned that maybe that could be my advent fic this year.
> 
> Many, MANY adaptions and modernizations later I decided that, should the readers set aside reality for the duration of the fic, it could definitely work. And here we are. The fic is over double the length I anticipated originally, and I love it so very much. I hope you do too.
> 
> This fic is not an accurate representation of the music industry, farms, the hospitality industry, security measures that should have been taken, etc etc etc. It is a silly and fun story based off a film. Please grant me the kindness of overlooking any liberties I have taken and all of the numerous errors I likely have made.
> 
> Massive thanks to my betas, [Maggie](https://disgruntledkittenface.tumblr.com) and [Molly](https://becomeawendybird.tumblr.com), for all of their help! I love you two so very much and appreciate you!!!
> 
> I'm sorry for my tags being a mess, please let me know if there are any I have missed! And now, without any further ado, thank you for reading my fic and I hope you enjoy.

“Thank you, Pittsburgh!” Louis yelled into the mic, one arm raised to the sky in a fist. “This was the best way we could have ended this tour and celebrated my birthday. As you know, this also kicks off a bit of a break for the band so Greg and I can go get married and have us some beautiful gay babies.” 

Louis scrunched his nose and smiled so wide his cheeks hurt at the screams that somehow grew even louder when he said that. He turned and looked at Greg who was just shaking his head and looking at his pedals.

Overwhelmed with the love he felt for the giant idiot he sang his heart out with nearly every night, Louis strummed a fast chord and laughed into the mic when the fans cheered for another song. 

Maybe just one more.

“Yeah? You want another one?” Louis asked the audience. Nodding and pretending he was thinking about it, he turned to his bandmates, flicking his hair out of his eyes. “Whatcha think? Just one more for the hometown crowd?”

Chris shrugged and twirled a drumstick and when Louis checked on Tim, he already had his favorite Fender on and ready to go. Dane answered with a quick improv on his keyboard and a wink at the audience.

Louis turned back to Greg, who still was smiling and waving at members of the audience, reacting to signs. 

“What do you think, babe? Maybe ‘I Got You’?” Louis suggested before playing a few notes of one of their biggest hits. “We could go Christmassy and do our amazing rendition of ‘Good King Wenceslas’, though I don’t think Tim’s going to be up to that falsetto after the way he shredded things earlier.”

The crowd was eating it all up, and finally Tim and Chris started playing into it as well. 

They finally decided on a song, Greg basically ignoring all of them to interact with the fans. Usually he was always up for a bit of banter, but all of them were feeling the heaviness of this being potentially the last time they ever performed together as a band.

Louis threw himself into the song, wanting to make sure he really went out on the highest note possible before focusing on his personal life for awhile. It was so great hearing Greg really take the stage with his vocals while Louis concentrated on playing one of his favorite guitar parts of any of their songs.

The ending chords rang out across the venue, thousands of people screaming back at them and Louis yelled what could be their final farewell.

“We are Greg, Chris, Tim, Dane, and Louis! DOUBLE GAMMON is signing off. Merry Christmas, Happy Winter, and Happy New Year to all of you! We love you! Goodbye!”

They all took their usual bow, unplugged, and ran off the stage.

“That was incredible!” Chris yelled, jumping and smacking the ceiling. His blond hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, but Louis knew his wasn’t doing much better after almost two full hours in the spotlight, playing and singing his heart out.

All of them cheered before having one last group hug and going to their own dressing rooms. 

Normally at the end of tour, they’d hurry and get cleaned up before heading out to party the rest of the night away. It was always a huge celebration with pretty much the entirety of the tour staff marking another successful run. 

This tour was different, though. Not only was it the last date of the tour and the beginning of what could be an indefinite break, but they would all be coming back together again in a different kind of celebration tomorrow afternoon at Greg and Louis’ wedding.

Louis threw himself down on the couch and closed his eyes, his arms outstretched. He focused on his breathing and heart rate, letting his body slowly come down from the high he’d been on. He and Greg had decided earlier that while they didn’t care much about the other traditions, one they would keep to was not staying the night together tonight. They wanted to have the first time they saw each other on—what would forever be termed— _ their _ Christmas day be when they joined hands to walk down the aisle together.

A large smile grew on Louis’ face as he began to imagine so many of the things they’d talked about over the past two years they’d been engaged. The rooms they would turn into nurseries, whether they’d go adoption or surrogates first, whether it might finally be the right time for them to adopt a second dog without feeling guilty that they constantly left them behind to tour. It was everything Louis had always dreamed of having, ever since he was a kid.

Well, almost. He’d always wanted to have a farm when he got older, but ultimately it was probably for the best that this was his life. He didn’t know that he could deal with lazing his days away on a farm.

A knock sounded on the door, so Louis opened his eyes and yelled, “Come in!”

“Louis, are you sure—”

“No, Arthur,” Louis moaned. “Don’t even try to convince me of anything. I am done as of tonight, and that answer is final.”

His manager continued to argue with him, giving him the same old spiels he’d been saying for months. Ever since the band had given him the notice that they weren’t going to be active for at least a little while after this.

“I am not changing my mind, and neither are the others,” Louis said, finally standing up and peeling his disgusting shirt off. He was definitely showering before heading home tonight. “We’ve been doing this for eight years, man. We’re tired and need a break.”

“Yeah, yeah. You keep saying that, but… hey, what’s this?”

Louis turned from his duffel that Janice had packed perfectly for him to take when he left, and saw Arthur staring at a piece of paper taped to the large mirror.

“It’s addressed to you,” Arthur said.

“Clearly,” Louis said with a soft snort before ripping down the torn, lined paper with Greg’s handwriting on it. It was probably just some love note he was writing to be all sappy before their wedding.

But then he started to read the words, and his vision went a bit foggy.

“Woah, you alright there?” Arthur asked, concerned enough to reach out and grip Louis’ arm.

“He’s leaving me,” Louis muttered.

“What?” Arthur asked, pulling back in confusion. “Who? Leaving you where?”

“Greg,” Louis said, standing still and staring at the paper in front of him still. “He’s running off with…” Louis shook his head in confusion. “He’s running off with Nick.”

Arthur looked at Louis in confusion. “Nick?”

Louis turned around and rushed towards his dressing room door. He couldn’t be bothered with the fact that Arthur didn’t even know his best friend’s name. After all, Louis was one of only a handful of people who seemed to remember that the famous DJ Grimmy had an actual first name.

“Grimmy, alright?” Louis spat angrily as he ripped open the door to Greg’s dressing room. “Greg fucking ran off with Grimmy. On my  _ birthday.” _

As Louis had feared and as the note had warned, the room was empty. Greg was already gone. 

Louis had to admit that it was pretty amazing, though. The numbness and surprise that had felt so heavy had very quickly turned to absolute, soul consuming fury. 

Louis crumpled the note, but before he could throw it away, he uncrumpled it and folded it so it would fit in his pocket. He was not going to feel up to explaining to his mom why the wedding needed to be called off and everyone contacted. Hopefully, handing her the note would suffice so he could go on up to what remained of his childhood bedroom and process in peace.

Fuck, that was going to be a nightmare to take care of. So many people needed to be called about the wedding being called off. The florist, the baker, the caterer… Thankfully they were holding it at Louis’ mom’s house, so there wasn’t a fee for the venue, and his sister was going to marry them, so again no need to worry about a priest or anything of that sort. All of that money spent for all of it, though, it was gone. He’d probably have to pay cancellation fees in addition to the deposits and some, like the cake, would need to be paid for in full due to how late he was cancelling. 

That was without even considering all of the guests that needed to be told as well. Shit. Louis’ nan. She was going to be heartbroken. 

_ Louis _ was heartbroken. It felt somewhat ridiculous to only just fall into that realization, but in his defense, his mind was going about a mile a minute just to take in everything that Greg’s haphazard note meant for Louis.

“The DJ?” Arthur asked in surprise, pulling Louis from his reflections.

“Yeah, my newly ex-best friend and my ex-fiance have decided to fuck me over by fucking each other. Get it?” Louis huffed and turned around, heading back to his dressing room. He needed to get a new shirt and get away from here as fast as possible. He’d shower at his mom’s and go from there.

“Why aren’t you fighting for him?” Arthur asked, following Louis into the hallway as he rushed towards the exit. “You two were engaged for two years! Dated for ages before that. This is going to solidify the band never coming back together again. Why aren’t you going after him?”

Finally Louis stopped in his tracks and turned to Arthur. “Because they’re already fucking gone,” he yelled at the top of his lungs. The crew continued to strike the set and rush around, but it felt like everything became so much more quiet as Louis continued to yell. “Because he said that he couldn’t look me in the eyes to fucking tell me himself, not on my birthday, but that he didn’t want me to find out through text or social media. Because he said that Nick would be waiting for him as soon as we got off the stage to run to the airport and go to fucking Bali for the next two weeks instead of the cabin we had booked in the mountains for our honeymoon. He’s. Already. Gone.” Louis raised his hands to his side and shook his head. “Not much to fight for, is there?”

For the first time in the eight years Louis had known him, Arthur looked truly sympathetic. Unfortunate that this was what it took for the man to feel actual emotions. 

“I’m sorry, Louis.”

Louis snorted. “Yeah. Me too.” 

He sighed and took in the chaos that surrounded him. It had made up so much of his life before now, and yet now it felt like he was completely and entirely removed from it. It was truly crazy how fast everything could change.

“I’ve gotta go,” Louis muttered, turning around, finally able to leave.

Louis should have gotten into the car, gotten back to the main road, and then turned right and gone home. It was where his things were, it was where his entire life he wasn’t able to take on tour with him was. 

But instead he turned left. There was no way in hell he would be able to stay in that house, what was meant to be their forever and where they would bring their children home, and  _ sleep. _ He would be surrounded by what ifs and whys and hows on top of the ghosts that filled the space with what Louis had thought were their happiest memories. Maybe they were just Louis’ happiest memories. It felt like Greg had entirely pulled the rug out from under him and he had no idea what was real and what he had apparently just been imagining the entire time.

Frustrated, Louis angrily hit the power button and turned the music off. It was just the wrong side of too much and had Louis feeling out of control and overwhelmed. For the first time in Louis’ entire life, the silence was soothing. How fucked was that? Music had always been his hiding place, his recovery. It was how he worked through  _ everything, _ but now it felt like Greg and Nick had taken it with them and not even music was safe anymore. Fuck it all.

The forty-five minute drive out to his mom’s went faster than it had any right to, and when he parked in the driveway he realized he didn’t actually remember the drive there. He sure hoped he hadn’t done anything stupid getting there, but at this point it was too late for any of that. What was done was done.

Louis killed the engine and sat in the car, looking up at the dark house. There looked to be one light on upstairs, so at least the entire house wasn’t in bed, but they were probably on their way there. After all, they all thought they had a busy day tomorrow. 

They had no idea.

Taking a deep breath, Louis gathered his bag and climbed out of the car. Once it was locked and he had confirmation that the note from Greg was still in his pocket, ready for him to hand over as explanation for everything, Louis headed to the front door.

The security system beeped as he pulled the key from the door and closed it behind him, alerting his mom to the fact that someone had entered the house. He hadn’t even taken his shoes off before he heard her making her way down the stairs.

“Louis?” she said quietly. It didn’t mask the confusion in her voice, though.

Louis bit his lower lip, the tears were already starting to fall. All of his confusion, shock, anger,  _ everything _ had pooled up within him and he knew as soon as she said anything or wrapped her arms around him, that was it. Everything he’d built for himself would come crumbling down and he’d be left with nothing but his tears and his mother’s arms to keep him together before he started picking up all the pieces.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Jay asked, tightening her robe to fight the chilly air that had come in with Louis.

Louis shook his head and immediately started crying. “He’s gone, Mom. It’s over. The wedding’s off.”

Jay’s eyes widened in surprise, but she immediately held her arms out and Louis rushed into them. 

So much needed to be done, but he could worry about that in the morning. For now he really needed to allow himself to just cry in his mom’s arms and feel sorry for himself.


	2. March 2023

“The fuck?” Dane asked before starting to cackle. “A  _ farm?” _

Louis rolled his eyes and shifted the phone so it was held up with his shoulder. “Yes, Dane. A farm. Turned out that putting the house in my name was a great idea. Greg didn’t even put up a fight and it’s already been sold. I don’t want most of the shit that is in there, so my agent is going to take care of it for me. I’ve gotten everything inside I’m attached to, so for now I’m with my mom.”

“Damn.” 

“Yeah.”

Louis sighed. He knew Greg wasn’t as attached to their life they had shared together as he was, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to just up and leave the way he had. That knowledge and understanding hadn’t helped ease the pain he felt when Greg flat out walked away from literally everything they’d built together. 

Despite the pain, Louis was doing his best to find a happy medium and move forward into a life that was only his without completely forgetting about the life he’d had before or the life he had once hoped for. It was harder than he’d expected, which was saying something because he’d expected it to be pretty damn hard. 

“But a farm?” Dane repeated. “I mean, really? Why a farm?”

Louis chuckled. “Listen man, I know you’re never more at home than when you’re in a bustling city, but I’ve never been like that. I have always wanted to live on a farm. Be my own boss. Not have to answer to anyone and just enjoy my days by relaxing, surrounded by animals and rolling fields, you know?”

“Where the hell are you going to find a farm like that?” Dane asked. 

He was judging Louis, Louis knew he was, but he also couldn’t bring himself to care all that much. Out of everyone in their band, Dane was the one most likely to shrug his shoulders once it was said and done and support Louis in doing what he felt was best. 

Plus, as it was, Louis wasn’t currently speaking to Tim or Chris. The two of them apparently knew that there was something going on between Greg and Nick all along. Greg really had started hanging out with Nick more to learn more about producing and remixing tracks and other skills it took to DJ live, but soon enough it became more. Tim and Chris knew and never once said anything. They even knew about Greg’s plans to run off and leave Louis behind, and still they stayed quiet. He wasn’t sure he could ever forgive them for that. Especially when he could have been warned, but instead Louis was left heartbroken and alone, betrayed by his fiance and best friend without having an inkling that it was even a possibility.

Maybe Louis shouldn’t be as trusting as he was, but he really couldn’t help it. It was his nature, and if he was being honest, he quite liked that part of himself. He also prided himself on being able to read people. Know whether someone at their core had shady motivations or whether they really were  _ good. _ He’d always trusted that gut instinct and it had never led him astray until now.

What a time for his trust in both himself and others to fail him. At least he wasn’t left at the actual altar, only the proverbial one. He supposed he should be thankful for that. 

Taking a breath, Louis pulled his thoughts back to the farm and Dane’s questions. It wasn’t much use dwelling on the past, anyway. “It is what it is” and all that. He needed to do his best and focus on the future.

“I’m looking at a few different places, actually,” Louis finally said as he switched tabs on his laptop so he could switch between a few of the farms he had been sent by his real estate agent so far. He really liked two of them, but John was sending him more links almost daily. “I haven’t decided for sure, but I’m thinking maybe eastern Pennsylvania or northern Maryland. I want to keep somewhat close to home, but I also don’t want to be too far removed from the music scene or even New York. I considered upstate New York as well, but decided I didn’t want winters like that.”

“Fuck man, I know that my perspective is just that of someone from rural Ohio and not born and raised PA or whatever, but you do realize that farms are a lot of work, right?”

“Of course I know that,” Louis said, scoffing. “But it’s not the kind of work we’ve been doing, you know? It’s with my hands, and I can choose how much work I take on.”

Dane started saying something, but it was interrupted by beeps indicating that Louis had an incoming call. When he pulled the phone away from his cheek, he saw it was John.

“Hey, I’ve gotta go. John’s calling and hopefully has more information about the farms I asked him about before. I’ll keep you updated on anything I do, alright?”

Dane sighed. “Yeah, alright. You have fun running off to a farm, man. Just don’t expect me to follow.”

Louis laughed. “You’re more than welcome to visit if you find you need time away from the hustle and bustle that isn’t surrounded by family.”

“Yeah, alright. Talk to you later.”

Louis hurried and switched the call over to John, hoping it hadn’t already sent him to voicemail.

“Hey, John. What’s going on?”

“Hey, Louis. Listen. I have found the perfect place for you.”

Louis could feel the excitement in John’s voice. Louis hadn’t given him many requests, but he had said he wanted land and stables for horses as well as a place for possibly cows, and if not cows, then at least some fields he could try actually planting things in. And then of course the location he requested. 

As John had sent him options, Louis had found some things he liked and disliked and refined the search parameters a little bit. John was being amazing and always seemed to be one step ahead of Louis. That was part of why he’d contacted him again, though. John always had a knack for knowing just what Louis wanted, sometimes even before Louis did.

“Yeah? The perfect farm exists, huh?” Louis asked, sitting back in his seat and looking out the window.

“I do believe so, yes. And they’d be willing to let you look around as soon as tomorrow if you’re interested.”

“Damn, alright,” Louis agreed. “You emailed me the information yet?”

“Hit send right before I called.”

Louis turned back to his computer and clicked the link in John’s email. He soon saw sprawling fields, a gorgeous farm house, a silo, and three barns or stables spread out on land surrounded by trees with a stream running through it all.

“Oh my god,” Louis said reverently. “They said the barns are in decent shape? Have they been used recently for animals? Do they have any equipment for the fields?”

John immediately started running through all of the information he had and it really did sound like the perfect option. It was all still in fairly good working condition, if not just in need of a little love and regular upkeep. It was off the beaten path, but close enough that within an hour or so Louis could be to a major airport. 

“So?” John asked. “Should I tell them you’ll be here?”

Louis had already put John on speaker and started texting Oli, his personal assistant, about getting him transportation to the farm.

“You absolutely should. I’ll have Oli reach out to you about timing so he can arrange details for getting there. Thank you so much, John. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s my pleasure,” John said before hanging up.

Louis continued to slowly scroll through the photos that were part of the listing. There were over fifty, and Louis couldn’t help staring at them, imagining himself as a part of it all already. One hundred acres, all to himself. 

It wasn’t his first choice for what to do with his life, at least not on it’s own, but since a husband and children weren’t in the cards for him, he might as well go for it. 

He could feel it in his bones, and he could tell the feeling would only get stronger once he stood on the land. This farm was the one. It was going to be Louis’ and he could finally start to move past everything that had happened to completely upheave his entire life. 

Louis was going to own a farm.


	3. July 2023

It was seven at night on what had to be the hottest day in the history of ever, and Louis regretted ever even  _ thinking _ about going near a farm, much less owning one. It was the middle of July, and he had only owned the farm for around four months, but he often thought back to Dane’s warnings about working a farm. 

Louis thought he knew what he was getting into. He thought he knew hard work. He thought he could do it himself. Instead there he was, a young and supposedly physically fit 28-year-old man, and he was considering sleeping on that couch for approximately fourteen years. He was that exhausted.

He was also incredibly embarrassed to admit that he was incredibly wrong.

It had taken him two weeks of living and working the farm, learning his way around the cows and horses, before he realized there was no way he was going to be able to plan any fields. He was barely going to be able to mow the lawn that immediately surrounded the farmhouse. There were so many buildings and so many animals that needed regular attention just to be kept in working condition, he was quickly overwhelmed and hired on some help. A few locals who used to work the farm with the previous owners had been the ones to help Louis learn the ropes, and they were more than willing to point him in the direction of good help. He’d ended up becoming good friends with the three he’d decided to take on, and part of their pay was living in the house with Louis. 

Even with Niall, Liam, and Zayn helping him on the farm, though, Louis was in no way going to be able to keep it all up.

“Lou, you dead?” Niall asked before flopping down on the other couch in the living room. 

“Yeah, I think I am,” Louis mumbled into the couch cushion. “You think Mr. Simmons is still interested in the cows?”

“Probably,” Niall said. “You gonna sell them after all?”

Louis moaned. “I cannot keep doing the early mornings. I didn’t think it would get to me so much since I’m used to not getting much sleep, but it is an entirely different beast to have to wake up early in the morning versus staying up ridiculously late at night.”

Niall cackled. “Yeah, no shit.”

“What about Mr. Simmons?” Liam asked as he entered the room. “I’ve gotta go see him in a little bit, he’s having difficulties with one of his horses.”

Louis finally rolled over enough that he could look at Liam and his fresh buzz cut. “I really do miss your curls,” Louis mused.

Liam looked at Louis confused. “Sorry?” he said, more as a question than an actual apology. “You do know Mr. Simmons didn’t cut my hair, though. I did that myself.”

Louis smiled. “I know, man. Just saying.” Groaning, Louis forced himself up. At least he wasn’t constantly sore anymore. He was surprised he could walk those first two weeks with the way his muscles had seized on him from the hard labor. Sure, he still had tweaks here and there, but more than anything else it was just a constant, bone deep exhaustion these days. “I was wondering if Mr. Simmons was still interested in the cows.”

Just as Louis knew it would, Liam’s lower lip stuck out. “Are we not taking good enough care of them for your liking?”

Louis couldn’t even bring himself to humor Liam. “Li. Look at me. You guys are doing alright, but we’re barely keeping on top of things at this point. This is now how I want to live. I’m in over my head, and you know it. Something’s gotta give, and it’s most of the livestock. I’ll keep a few horses, and that’s about it.”

“What’s that mean for us, then?” Zayn asked from the corner.

Louis shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t even know what it means for  _ me, _ if I’m honest.” 

Liam sat down beside Zayn on the overstuffed chair in the corner since Louis and Niall hadn’t relinquished their spots on the couches, and they sat in silence for awhile.

“You gonna sell the farm entirely?” Niall asked.

“No,” Louis said vehemently. “I really do love it here. I’ve been thinking, though, it might be nice to fix up the house a bit. It was always in my plans to do that, but everything else has been taking so much time and energy I haven’t gotten to it. And who knows, maybe once I’m done with that, I’ll have an idea with what I actually want to do with all my time.”

“So when do we start on the house?” Zayn asked.

Louis laughed, but when he looked over at the men on the chair, they both were looking at him seriously. 

“Wait, you guys do home reno work too?” Louis asked, shocked.

“We also play in a few bands each, sing, Liam does some basic blacksmithing, Zayn’s an accountant when needed, and I cook,” Niall said.

“No you don’t,” Liam and Zayn said in chorus.

“Your roasted chicken is dry and flavorless,” Zayn said, sounding more animated than he had in weeks. “You made beef stew once and I legitimately didn’t know that there was a meal that salt couldn’t help taste better, but even after adding half a shaker of salt, I still couldn’t taste shit.”

“Blasphemy!” Niall cried, face turning red. “That is slander against my good name!”

“He’s right, though,” Liam argued. “Louis’ a better cook than you.”

Louis snorted, but stifled any chuckles when Niall sent a glare his way. The man was scary when his temper flared. 

“So, who wants a beer?”

“Not with you fuckers I don’t,” Niall muttered before stomping out of the room. “I’m taking three to my room just for myself. I hate all of you. See you in the morning.”

He kept muttering the rest of the way up the stairs, and Louis, Liam, and Zayn kept quiet until they heard his door slam shut. 

The sound seemed to release them from their silence, and they all burst out laughing together.

“Is he really as bad as all that?” Louis asked, wiping a tear from his eye. He didn’t think the situation warranted as much laughter and amusement as they were currently finding in it, but they were tired.

“You have no idea,” Liam said, smiling. “Hey, if you’re serious about the cows, I can talk to Mr. Simmons for you. I should be heading over there soon, anyway.”

Louis studied the worn and sun-bleached pattern of the old rug covering the bare boards of the floor as he finally felt sure in his decisions. 

“Yeah, I’d appreciate it if you would.”

“Sure.” Liam stood up again and as he was leaving the room, he said, “For real, though. If you still want us, we really can all help with the house and other aspects of the property.”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”

Liam nodded and left the room again.

Now Louis just had to figure out what the hell he was going to do with himself once the farmhouse and other buildings were updated and redone. He had time, though. 

If anything, he had too much of it.


	4. October 2023/May 2024

“What do you think you want to do with the other buildings on the property?” Zayn asked one night, the two of them smoking on the large balcony outside the master bedroom. It reminded Louis of a cabin he’d stayed at in Gatlinburg when he was younger, which was probably why he’d been so insistent on getting a porch swing installed for it. He loved the floating feeling and sense of freedom he got from the fresh air while still feeling removed from the responsibility that always seemed to come and meet him when his feet were touching the ground. 

They had all had a long day of wrapping up the renovations inside the house and barn for the horses while Louis settled on what he wanted to do with the other buildings. Now they were done, and it was time for decisions to be made.

Louis glanced down where Niall’s voice drifted up again. Louis and Zayn were also enjoying watching Niall and Liam argue about the merits of lining the long drive with a fence for aesthetics. Louis thought the idea was ridiculous, but he would not be voicing that opinion until the morning.

Taking a deep breath and blowing out some smoke, Louis scrunched up his nose. “I was kind of thinking about making it like… an inn of some sort.” 

He hadn’t said the words out loud, just yet. He’d only been thinking about it. He’d been too worried to float the idea to the guys because he wasn’t sure they’d agree with him on the possibilities. 

Louis really wanted to capitalize on the comfort and relaxation of a farm, but also make it feel somewhat exclusive. After all, the storage barn that was close to the house was just a large open floor space, and he had been considering how easily it could be transitioned into an entertainment area. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with that space specifically just yet, but he’d considered the idea that there could be tables and a stage area, so maybe something like a dinner theater. 

He didn’t  _ actually _ want a dinner theater, but that kind of a set up could potentially work. Then again, that space was so large, maybe half could be for dining and the other half could be a set up for a dance space. Really cater to the younger crowd who want a bit of a vacation away but still want to be able to have fun out in the country while they relax. But who would want to do something like that? It felt like such a strange combination of interests that only Louis could possibly be drawn to that.

“How many rooms were you thinking?” Zayn asked, turning on the swing and making their rocking go a bit uneven for a moment. “And what space? Would you use the house or what?”

“Nah,” Louis said, blowing the smoke out. “I thought I could make some rooms out of the old barns that are empty now, especially since we moved the horses into the smaller stables. We’ve got three large ones, and I know it won’t make for many rooms, but it would make for enough. I don’t want a huge amount of work, you know? I want this place to still be an escape for me. I just haven’t figured out how I’d work it. What the appeal would be or what the angle of it all is, and that’s why I haven’t said anything about it yet.”

Zayn grunted but otherwise stayed silent. Niall and Liam were still bickering, but they’d clearly calmed down and were now walking out towards the stream, so Louis didn’t know what that meant, but at least it allowed him and Zayn to talk openly a little longer before he needed to fill them in on details he didn’t have yet.

“What I wish is that I could figure out a way to make it so it could be a viable business, even with all the expenditures, and yet still have the draw for people to make the trek out here but only work like… I dunno. Like thirty days a year or something, you know? Give me a good month of solid work and being around loads of people, and then let me relax the rest of the time.”

Zayn laughed at that. “You want like the opposite of what everyone else has. You want to like work the holidays everyone else has off and then have the rest of the time to yourself while they work.”

“Fuck, yeah. That sounds perfect, actually.” Louis shivered. It was October and finally turning cold enough to need a sweater at night, but the trees weren’t changing yet. “God, imagine. It could be like a literal holiday inn or something. Open on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but not in between.”

Louis expected Zayn to laugh or immediately make fun, but he didn’t. He stayed quiet and then soon pulled his phone out.

“Is it really that bad of an idea?” Louis asked as he scratched his neck. “Cause I actually did think it was kind of a good idea.”

“I’m just looking at what holidays there are,” Zayn muttered before reaching over and putting out his cigarette and flicking the butt into the empty flower pot. “Dude, how do you even search for a list of holidays. Everything’s coming up with those stupid every day has a holiday to celebrate lists and shit. It’s so messed up.”

Louis laughed. “I don’t know, actually. Maybe like national holidays or something? Federally recognized holidays?”

“Yeah, alright. We can start there, I guess.” Zayn went quiet for a moment and then laughed. “Yeah, I mean. Some of these are good, like New Year’s and Independence Day and shit. But what is there really to celebrate about Veteran’s Day? It’s not really a go on a vacation kind of holiday. And like Columbus Day? Please tell me if you do that one you’d celebrate the Indigenous People’s Day instead?”

Scrunching his nose, Louis shrugged. “Yeah, if I actually stuck to the holiday theme I think I could do as many holidays as I want, right? Whatever holiday gives an excuse for people to come and have fun, I guess. But if we did this I’d definitely go with the Indigenous People’s Day recognition instead of Columbus.”

Zayn nodded. “Would you also do more religious holidays? Like there’s Christmas, which is a pretty obvious one, but what about others like Easter? And… I dunno, man.” Zayn started laughing. “I feel so stupid right now, but I really can’t think of any others. What other major Christian holidays are there? There’s more, right?”

Louis started giggling too. “Shit, I don’t know either.” 

Soon they were both laughing so hard that they were leaning into each other and every time one would calm down, the other would start laughing again.

“At least you have an excuse,” Louis said as he giggled some more and wiped away his tears. “You’re Muslim. Why do you need to know the Christian holidays?”

“I was still raised with Christmas and shit, you know?” Zayn said, laughing between words. “I’m so tired I’m not even thinking straight.”

“Probably cause you aren’t straight, dude.” Louis bit down on his lips as soon as he said it, his eyes wide before he looked over at Zayn. 

Zayn had quietly but firmly let Louis know that he was bi a few weeks ago, it just wasn’t something he told everyone just yet, so Louis wasn’t sure if he was comfortable enough with the idea to joke about it. Zayn was staring at him in shock, face frozen before he leaned his head back and let out the loudest laugh yet.

“You are so fucking right,” Zayn howled. 

Louis was relieved that Zayn was still laughing, so they kept laughing and teasing each other for a while longer.

“For real, though. Do you think this is something that could work? An actual inn that would only be open for holidays?”

Zayn shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I do think there’d have to be something else that goes with it to make it special, but we’ve got time for that. Especially if we’re going to be converting those barns into up-to-code rooms. Plus that would require a change in the zoning of the property and all kinds of shit. It’ll take a bit of time to get it all ironed out and fully approved.”

Louis nodded. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Hey!”

Louis leaned forward so he could see through the wooden slats of the railing to where Liam and Niall were in the front yard, yelling at them.

“What?” he called back.

“You two staying up much longer, or should we just plan on going to bed?”

Louis looked at his watch and felt a yawn come on. It really had been a long day, even if they had only done finishing touches. 

“Yeah, think I’m heading to bed.”

They all said their goodnights and headed to their own rooms, but Louis couldn’t get the idea of a holiday-based inn out of his head.

*~~***~~*

“The electrician should be out to double check all the work he did earlier and make sure we didn’t accidentally screw anything up when we were going through to fix the structural issues,” Liam said, settling down in front of where Louis was strumming his guitar.

It was coming up on the middle of May, and most of the construction work and transitions of the various barns were finished outside of what they needed the professionals to do. The four of them had worked their asses off through the colder months, and it looked amazing now.

Louis had also been slowly making headway with all of the various legal aspects of opening a business and there was still more to do, but it felt like the biggest hurdles were out of the way. At this point it was more of a waiting game and, once the buildings were all given the approval from an inspector, the next step was to get them furnished and decorated.

In Louis’ opinion, though, that was the best part. He even had an entire Instagram account solely for following various decorating accounts. He loved being able to create a space that felt just right, and he had been looking forward to having some fun with the rooms for months now.

That said, the last piece of the puzzle of what exactly the inn would be—the driving force of it all—was still missing.

“Do you think a DJ is the way to go?” he asked the guys. “We could do a spotlight on more local musicians, local being a word I use lightly of course, but still at least somewhat close to the area. They could be the openers for larger acts I can try to book or something.”

Louis winced. It didn’t feel right, but he wasn’t sure what other options he had.

“Dude. You’re an idiot.”

“Rude,” Louis muttered before sticking his tongue out at Niall. “Why’m I an idiot?”

“You’re literally a world famous rock star. Why do you want to hire a DJ when you could be the one they come to see?” Niall asked, pausing his own strumming to wave at Louis. “I mean, come on. Everyone knows who you are. Getting to see you perform in front of such a small crowd would make it incredibly desirable and exclusive, especially if certain packages included a room on your property. Am I right?”

“You are,” Liam said nodding before turning to Louis. “He is. Besides, you were just saying the other day how you miss performing.”

“I know, but…” Louis drifted off before shaking his head. “There’s no way DOUBLE GAMMON is getting back together. Not after everything that happened.”

“Who said anything about DOUBLE GAMMON?” Liam asked, brows furrowed. “We were just talking about you. Or at least I was.” 

When Liam turned to Niall for support, he got a smile and a nod of agreement. 

“Yeah, see?” Liam said, his smile bright. “So get yourself a new band. Or just perform by yourself. I really don’t think anyone else would care.”

Niall started strumming one of DOUBLE GAMMON’s biggest hits. “We’re going to have a lot of time on our hands as we wait for everyone to get back to you with the right certificates and shit, and then you’re going to have to take the time to hire staff who only wanna work during those times too, and so on and so forth. Just practice with us until you know more about what you want to do and we can go from there.”

Louis was about to say no, but then he thought about it. It really was the perfect solution. “What instruments do you guys play again?”

“I do a bit of the piano, guitar, and harmonica,” Niall said with a wink. “Remind me to play Piano Man for you sometime.”

“Please don’t, we’ve only heard it a million times,” Zayn teased.

Niall turned and gave him a creative version of the middle finger.

“I’m mostly drums these days, but I can also do a bit of piano and bass,” Liam said, shyly.

“Don’t let him fool you with his modest way of saying that,” Zayn piped up. “He’s fucking amazing on the drums. And I play bass and piano, but bass is where I’m most confident.”

Louis nodded. “Alright. Well. Let’s get your instruments up here whenever you’re able and we can see how we work together, yeah?”

All of them smiled at each other and agreed.

Finally, things felt like they were really falling into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to those of you reading this as I post! It's so much fun to read your comments and see your reactions as we go. If you don't mind, I'm actually curious to know how many of you have actually seen Holiday Inn so if you could let me know in the comments, I would love that. I'm just wondering who all is familiar with the basic storyline hehe


	5. November 2024

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh... our OT4 becomes OT5 today! hehe

Louis sat at one of the tables in the performance space and shuffled through his multiple piles of papers. He was meant to have an interview for another possible employee in half an hour and he was not ready. He really was  _ mostly _ organized, but he was interviewing for so many positions at the moment that he wasn’t sure where the interview notes for housekeeping were.

“Excuse me, Louis? Or, uh, Mr. Tomlinson?”

Louis froze and turned to see who in the world would  _ ever _ consider calling him Mr. Tomlinson.

When he turned around he saw a man with the most ridiculous combination of clothing he’d ever seen. Bright tennis shoes were paired with a pair of sweatpants that Louis thought could maybe be described as a pastel, tie-dye chevron of some sort. The white jacket he was wearing went well enough, but there was some seventies-psychadelic inspired print on the t-shirt beneath that read “Don’t Trip”, and overall it was just… a lot. 

Blinking a bit so that he wouldn’t say anything overtly rude about the outfit, Louis quickly moved his eyes to the man’s face and was then struck dumb. He was so clearly nervous, probably why he even tried with the “Mr. Tomlinson” a moment ago, but the only thing Louis was really able to focus on was how incredibly bright and clear his green eyes were.

“Uh, Louis is fine,” Louis finally got out before he cleared his throat and pulled himself together again. “Yeah, Louis. Anyway, can I help you? Are you Renee? Are you here to interview for housekeeping?” 

The man’s nerves lessened visibly when he cracked a smile and then laughed a little. “No, no I’m not. Though I’m sure Renee is incredibly qualified and will be a wonderful addition to your staff.”

“Oh,” Louis said, surprised. “Do you know them? Did they refer you to me?”

“Renee?” the man asked.

“Yeah.”

“No,” he said, his smile widening. “I don’t even know which Renee you’re referring to, but no.”

“Right,” Louis drawled out, tilting his head. “I’m sorry, but why are you here, then?”

The man’s eyes widened and he straightened his posture a bit. “Oh, sorry.” He then shifted the bags he had on his shoulder and walked forward with his hand outstretched. “I’m Harry Styles, and I’m here to sing for you. I’m going to be the last member of your new band.”

Louis laughed a little, but humored the man by taking his hand and shaking it. “I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but we aren’t looking for another member. The four of us are working quite well together already.”

Harry arched his brow and gave Louis a smirk. “I think I can convince you otherwise.”

Louis narrowed his eyes at the man before turning back to the papers so he could find the packet he needed. If Renee showed up. They were now late, and that didn’t really bode well for hiring purposes.

“I’m sure you could, but we really aren’t looking.” Louis finally saw a paper clip around some pages halfway through the stack—that he thought was only about the requirements from the fire marshall and other building code items—and pulled it out with a crow of excitement at finding what he needed. “Besides, this really isn’t a full time gig. I’m sure you could find better options in the city.”

Harry was quiet, which Louis was fine with because he needed to make sure nothing was missing from the packet and find a pen. Even if Renee was a no show, Louis had four other interviews after theirs and he was hoping to finish hiring his kitchen staff today.

Louis leaned his hip against the table and counted the various sheets, finding he had exactly the amount he needed. Walking towards the table where he had the other paperwork already set out for the interviewees to fill out additional information for him, Louis was about to sit down when familiar cords he hadn’t heard since he was a teenager started playing.

Confused, Louis turned and saw Harry had taken the stage and was playing a guitar. Louis was about to get mad that he’d just picked up one of Louis or Niall’s instruments they’d left up there from their band practice earlier, but then he realized there was an open case beside Harry. He’d had a guitar with him the whole time and Louis hadn’t even noticed. 

Then Harry began to sing. It was a fairly simple song, an acoustic cover of Teenage Dirtbag, but Harry’s voice was such a gorgeous combination of deep and floating, a touch of gravel to his tone but effortlessly smooth when he went up to hit the higher notes of the chorus, all while strumming his guitar to perfectly accompany it all.

He finished, and Louis was still frozen in place, papers in hand. Which was a problem since he wanted to applaud the performance. No, he didn’t just want to, he  _ needed _ to.

Harry smiled from the stage once Louis had finally dropped the papers on the table and started clapping in earnest. 

“I’m serious about this,” Harry said, still gripping his guitar. “I want to be a part of your band and I really do think I’d fit in well. If you need me to do something else as well, I’m more than willing. I can help out the cleaning staff during the day or even help with kitchen prep, help take appointments, anything really.”

Louis folded his arms. “A third guitar isn’t a bad thing to think about, but we’ve been thinking about adding some keys to a few songs. How are you on the piano?” 

Louis knew that outside of Liam, any of the rest of them could easily transition to playing the piano for a song or two, but they’d so perfectly worked out the balance with the instruments they had they didn’t want to mess that up, especially when they’d decided to do entirely different sets for each show, and they were now almost a month out from the Christmas Eve and Christmas shows with the New Year’s Eve show a week after. They weren’t confident enough yet to just switch things up when those were also the first three nights the One Night Inn would be open.

“I’m actually stronger on piano than guitar, I just didn’t think you’d want to go in that direction. I didn’t bring my keyboard with me, though.”

Louis waved his hand. “I think we have three in the house.” 

The door to the performance space opened interrupting Louis’ thoughts, and a young woman with fiery red hair walked in. 

“Renee?” he asked. When she smiled and nodded, he smiled back. “I’ll be right with you.”

Turning back to Harry, Louis tilted his head. “You sure about this? I can’t pay much to start. I wasn’t counting on an addition with the music and I’m serious when I say every penny is already accounted for until we really get things up and running.”

“That’s fine,” Harry said, holding his hands out. “If you have at least a couch to sleep on, to start, that would be enough for me.”

Louis pursed his lips and nodded. “Go on into the house and call out for one of the guys. Liam, Zayn, and Niall are their names. Tell them I sent you in to find a keyboard so you can show them your skills. If they sign off on you, then welcome to the band, I guess.”

Harry smiled brightly, and Louis almost fainted. He had fucking  _ dimples. _

“Thank you so much, Louis. You won’t regret this.”

Harry was still talking as he put his guitar away and started picking up his bags again. 

“Oh my god,” Louis said with a laugh. “That’s enough already. Thank you for your enthusiasm, but maybe tone it down a little. We’ll talk more later tonight if the others haven’t kicked you out by then.”

Harry nodded and rushed out, finally letting Louis to take a breath and look at Renee. Maybe it really was for the best that she was a little late.

“Hello, sorry about that,” Louis said with a smile. “I’m Louis, the owner of the inn and the one who reached out to you last week.”

“I know,” Renee said, eyes wide and sounding breathless. “I know who you are.”

Louis chuckled, somewhat embarrassed. It had been almost two years since DOUBLE GAMMON went on hiatus and he’d moved out here. Liam, Zayn, and Niall had never treated him any differently than they did each other and the rest of the farming community didn’t act like they even knew who he was. He’d gotten used to the idea he needed to introduce himself and sometimes forgot he had a famous face and name. 

“Right. Well, please come on over, and we’ll get started.”

*~~***~~*

“So what do you think?” Louis asked Liam quietly as they walked to join Niall and Zayn to rehearse. 

Louis still hadn’t been to the house to find out what the decision had been regarding Harry. He had been so busy with the horses after he’d wrapped up interviews that he hadn’t even paused to eat dinner yet. He’d only seen Liam now because Liam had come out to the barn to feed the horses and found Louis unloading the feed order. Louis couldn’t wait until the man he’d hired to take care of the horses full time could start next week.

“We love him,” Liam said, turning to Louis with wide eyes. “I swear Niall was ready to marry him as soon as he started singing Fleetwood Mac.”

Louis glanced at Liam. “What song did he sing?”

“He didn’t do just one. After he did Leather and Lace, Niall pulled out his guitar and they worked their way through most of the Rumours album and then didn’t really stop. They’d taken a quick break to make dinner and eat, but then they went back to playing and singing and kept right on going until I left to come help you in the barn.”

“So you’re saying that I shouldn’t expect to find that Niall finished the list I gave him this morning?” Louis asked, laughing. 

“I…” Liam winced. “He did get some of it done before Harry distracted him. But I know he didn’t get to the linens like you’d asked.”

Louis nodded. That was fine. As long as some progress was made he could work with it.

When he opened the door to the performance space, Harry was sitting at a keyboard doing a ridiculous good impersonation of Elton John as Zayn and Niall laughed so hard Louis was afraid Niall would fall over.

“Lou!” Niall wheezed out, his smile wide and cheeks pink. “Where the fuck did you find Harry? He’s amazing!”

Louis laughed. “I didn’t find him. He found us.”

Harry blushed at that and scrunched up his nose. 

“Well, whatever. He’s just what we needed, but we’ve got to get him up to speed with the songs, so come on! Let’s go!”


	6. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2024

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Grand Opening is here!

Louis closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was here. It was time. 

Everything leading up to their grand opening had been an insane whirlwind of activity, and it hadn’t been without its mishaps, but considering what he’d been expecting it had actually gone quite smoothly so far. He really was so lucky to have found people to help him in the project that were as dedicated to it as he was.

Harry was truly a godsend. Louis wasn’t sure what he had expected, but he had kept his word and helped out anywhere he was able when he wasn’t working on learning the songs. He’d also taken the last room in the farm house, and now, a month later, it was almost like he’d been there the whole time.

The band was getting ready for the evening, a luxury that Louis hadn’t been expecting. Jenna, the woman Louis had hired to take care of the actual operations side of the inn, had insisted on it though, so suddenly he found himself in his room, shaking from the nerves and the spiraling thoughts of everything that could possibly go wrong.

A knock sounded at his bedroom door and Louis called out, “It’s open.”

“Hey,” Harry said, popping his head in. “How you doing?”

When Louis had met Harry that day in November, he never would have expected Harry to clean up the way he did. Instead of the mismatched beautiful clown look, he now looked like a sleek rock star. His long hair was down, curls coming to his shoulders, and he was wearing a loose shirt that was mostly unbuttoned and hanging open enough for Louis to get a good luck at the tattoos on his chest paired with skin tight jeans. 

Louis looked boring and stale in comparison.

When Louis didn’t answer, Harry stepped in fully and closed the door behind him, concern clear on his face.

“You alright?” he asked.

Louis rolled his eyes. “About to shit myself, I’m so nervous, but otherwise yeah. I’m fine.” Taking a deep breath, Louis turned to Harry, his eyes wide. “But what about you? You’ve never actually performed in front of an audience like this, have you?”

Harry pursed his lips. “Not really. Not like, people who paid to see us or whatever. It is kind of nice that it’s not a huge crowd. Just the few hundred or whatever.”

Louis nodded, understanding. 

He was beyond pleased with the response to One Night Inn and the band. After the overwhelming interest, Louis and Liam had determined that in addition to the guests who would be staying at the inn that had dinner included with their package, that they would open the show itself to more people. It would allow them to boost the income to help cover the cost of everything. Louis wasn’t sure people would want to do it, especially since it was on such a major holiday like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for their first two shows, but they’d sold out the same day the sale opened.

It was exactly what Louis needed to help erase the memory of what had happened with Greg on Christmas Eve two years prior.

Pulling himself out of his reverie before it took his focus away from what was actually important tonight—which was a successful show—Louis turned to Harry.

“So, Harold, what are your plans for in between the holidays?” 

All of them had agreed that in order for the guys to make some money in between holidays, they would only be at the inn for about four to five days before each performance. They could practice and really get the songs they were performing that time around polished after working on them on their own along with whatever else they were doing for some more regular income.

Harry blew some air out making his cheeks puff a little and Louis chuckled. 

“I’m not really sure, actually,” Harry said with a shrug. “Coming out here and trying out for you was kind of a last chance sort of thing for me.”

Louis scrunched his nose. “Really?”

Harry nodded. “I’d been in Nashville for a while trying my hand at a few different aspects of the business like songwriting as well as performing, being in bands, all of that, but every time I got close something happened and I was left starting from scratch basically.”

Louis winced. “Yeah, I get that. It’s rough a lot of the time. DOUBLE GAMMON was so fucking lucky. But just because Nashville hasn’t worked out yet doesn’t mean it  _ won’t _ or that some other city might be where you need to go to be heard.”

“I grew up in Connecticut, so all through high school I was working my way around various open mic circuits in New York,” Harry said with a shrug. “It was pretty clear early on that that wasn’t for me. The scene in LA isn’t really open to newcomers. If you’re a new signing for a label, then it’s great, but without a real manager or anyone behind me, really, it isn’t a good place to get my name out there. So, Nashville it is. Or, well, was.”

“Why was?” Louis asked, turning back to the mirror to make sure he was totally ready. He still wasn’t sure if he wanted a quiff or to leave his hair soft. As he studied his reflection, Harry kept talking. 

“My parents gave me until I was 30 to try to make it work there and I was able to push them off until now. I was actually on my way home when I saw a post on Twitter about what you were doing here, and I stopped here instead of continuing to Connecticut. If you’d said no, I would have finished the drive home and had to get to work helping my step-dad with his business.”

Louis turned to Harry, his eyes wide and hands still covered in the wax he was using for his quiff. “Shut the fuck up,” Louis said. “Are you serious?”

Harry gave Louis a wry smile and nodded, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. “Yep. So I’m really glad you hired me on.”

Louis huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, me too, I guess.”

“Hey, are you guys coming? We still have to tune up and shit before taking the stage,” Niall said as he popped his head into the bedroom. “Let’s go. It might not be a big deal for you, Lou, but it’s pretty massive for the rest of us.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Will you guys stop saying shit like that? It’s a big deal for me too. It’s my first time out with a new band and everything. First time performing in two years. A whole new business venture riding on the success of tonight and tomorrow night. Right?”

“Whatever,” Niall said, waving his hand and walking towards the stairs. “Let’s go.”

The thirty minutes before the show started flew by and soon enough, the band was walking out on stage to a crowd just as excited and dedicated as any he’d played for before.

“Hello everyone,” Louis greeted, waving and smiling. “Welcome to One Night Inn and Merry Christmas Eve! This is our grand opening, and it’s really fucking incredible that all of you have come out to support us like this. It means a lot.”

Smiling as he looked at Harry with the keyboard set up in front of him and his guitar strapped to his back, Louis couldn’t help but chuckle a little at Zayn standing in front of Harry looking like a bored model. He should probably introduce them.

“So, as this is the first show, and my birthday so I can do what I want, we’re going to hold off on the first number for a moment because the guys up here with me are pretty damn important and I want to give a quick introduction before we get going, yeah?” The crowd cheered and he nodded. “To my right, on the bass and doing some fancy vocal shit, we have Zayn Malik!”

Zayn played a little riff to show off. 

“Ohh, he’s not just looks, he’s skills too!” 

Zayn shot Louis a middle finger and Louis just stuck his tongue out at him. 

“Behind him on the keys as well as playing some guitar and lead vocals, we have Harry Styles!”

Harry played a jaunty version of Deck the Halls for a few seconds then hit a chord and shrugged.

“Very well done, young Harold,” Louis complimented before thumbing over his shoulder. “On the drums and assisting us with his gorgeous vocals as well, we have Liam Payne!”

Liam did a quick riff on his drums that ended with a cymbal and Louis nodded approvingly. 

“And last, but definitely not least, we have Niall Horan on the six string and offering us his vocal chords as well.”

Niall started strumming the latest Ed Sheeran hit before smiling and nodding at Louis.

“That leaves me, Louis Tomlinson. We are One Direction, and here’s the very first song that we ever played together as a band, White Christmas.”

They started with Harry playing the introduction nice and slow on the keys as the lights went down and the spotlights turned on, all focused on Harry. His voice rang out, clear and smooth and Louis closed his eyes to focus on Harry’s voice better.

When he finished the first two lines, Louis jumped in and a spotlight turned on for him, Harry moving up to harmony. One by one they came in and harmonized until they were in five part harmony, holding out the chord for the word  _ white. _

Then Liam counted off and the band started rocking out the old classic. It was a lot of fun and really got the crowd dancing, and it was then that Louis knew that this crazy venture, this insane dream that he hadn’t truly had confidence in but knew he had to try, just might be a success.

*~~***~~*

“Thank you for coming out to be with us, especially on a holiday like Christmas!” Louis called into the mic as the crowd continued to scream and applaud. It was only their second show and the second night in a row they had performed, but Louis was addicted. He always had loved performing, and now it felt like it was on his own terms. It was that much better. “We are One Direction playing for you at One Night Inn. Merry Christmas and goodnight!”

The band took a quick bow and waved at the audience before running off the stage and heading back to the room they used for warming up and holding their instruments. It was a fairly basic set up, but it worked for the kinds of shows they would put on, especially considering how small the performance space was overall. Louis kind of loved it, actually.

“You didn’t really think about the security factor surrounding all of this, did you?” Zayn asked, looking over his shoulder at the door as if it would just burst open with fans trying to get inside. “What if one of your superfans follows us and tries getting into the farmhouse or something?”

Louis shook his head. “I honestly wasn’t even sure if people would really show up for these shows. But now that you bring it up, it is something to think about.”

“We can think about it tomorrow or the day after, yeah?” Liam suggested as he sat and watched the rest of them all get their instruments packed away and placed into the insulated closet that was protected by various locks. “The staff takes good care of the equipment and instruments and we do have some basic security for our belongings and things. We can leave it at that until everyone leaves tomorrow and we have finished celebrating a successful first two shows.”

“Sounds good to me,” Louis said with a smile. “Merry Christmas, you guys. Wanna do like we did last night and go out and mingle, have some drinks?”

“Fuck yes,” Niall cheered, skipping towards the door. “You know, maybe for New Year’s, we can have music to dance and party to all the way until midnight.”

They already did have music playing through the sound system, but it was just a canned list Louis had made himself. Something live could be fun for sure.

“Yeah, that might be a good idea, especially if we’re going to do the mingle and party with everyone thing after every show.” Louis paused and tilted his head. “Maybe we could get a DJ in for a couple hours, make it better than just the playlist we have going now.”

“Me please,” Liam said, going so far as to raise his hand and turn around from where he was in the doorway. “I DJ sometimes and go by DJ Payno and I love it, please let me. Please.”

Zayn studied Liam for a moment before asking, “Does that mean you can still dance with us sometimes?”

Louis turned and looked, and he had to have been blind or just overly busy not to have noticed before. The way Zayn and Liam were looking at each other was almost electric. Louis felt a bit uncomfortable being so close to them and they weren’t even doing anything. 

Liam blushed and said, “Yeah, if Louis’ okay with it. I do love dancing.”

Zayn nodded with a small smile. “Yeah, me too.”

“Come on, fuckers! Are you joining me or what?” Niall yelled. “Whatever, I’m going out with out you.”

Louis watched Zayn and Liam continue to chat between themselves as they walked into the performance space, but he stayed where he was. 

“I’m giving those two until New Year’s to finally hook up,” Harry said, startling Louis so much he jumped and let out a squeak.

“What the fuck,” Louis said, turning and punching Harry in the arm.

“Ouch,” Harry said, pouting and rubbing his arm. “That was very rude.”

Louis rolled his eyes but rubbed his chest in an attempt to get his heart to slow down. “Whatever. I was so in my head I didn’t realize you were still back here with me.”

Harry laughed. “I was literally back there banging around the entire time everyone was talking. I wasn’t  _ trying _ to scare you.”

Louis narrowed his eyes. “Whatever. Come on, I think half the crowd is waiting on you and your gorgeous curls.”

Harry chuckled and held out his arm. “Only if you accompany me.”

Louis shook his head, but looped his arm through Harry’s. He felt ridiculous but also entirely natural walking arm in arm with Harry, and he didn’t want to think about that at the moment. There was too much else going on, so he shoved it to the side as something he wouldn’t ever get around to contemplating, and focused on having a good time for the rest of the night.


	7. New Year's Eve 2024/New Year's Day 2025

Louis stood back at the bar and smiled as he watched everyone dance to Liam’s mixes. It felt like he wasn’t just doing a show and having an inn open for holidays, it was like throwing a massive party for every holiday. If anything, it felt right up his alley. He always had loved parties, and being the one responsible was heavy, but also made it that much sweeter when things turned out well.

There were the issues, mostly smaller but some bigger, that Louis had expected with the first two nights the inn was open. He had been prepared for those proverbial fires, though, and everyone was thankfully very understanding. It already felt like the second attempt with New Year’s was going smoother and he was thankful. 

One thing that he couldn’t believe he was enjoying so much though was playing a completely different set every night. They had considered playing the same songs for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but had ultimately decided there was enough music, holiday and otherwise, that they could easily do two different sets and had gone for it. He was glad that he had decided against a separate show for New Year’s Day, though. When they were initially planning they almost did it, mostly because they were for Christmas and felt they should for New Year’s as well, but in the end they had all agreed the bigger and more important holiday between the two was definitely New Year’s Eve. If they decided to change it for the next year, assuming they were still open next year, then they could, but for now prepping for three entirely different shows to be played over the course of a week was more than enough for them.

It had been busy and stressful and Louis’ fingers finally had reacquired their callouses from playing guitar, but standing up in front of their crowd of 200 and playing another new set had done more to enliven him than anything had in years.

Louis was just glad he’d get to decompress for a bit and decide on a set list for their next holiday before getting to do it all over again.

“Heya,” Harry said, breathing hard and smiling as he leaned on the bar beside Louis. 

“Hi,” Louis said, taking him in. 

He was dressed just as he had been for their previous two shows, and Louis was starting to love the peek at more of Harry’s skin that he offered for the occasion. It was incredible, though, because he was hot and sweaty after all the dancing, but it only served to make him that much more beautiful. 

It was unfair really.

“You’ve been enjoying yourself out there, I see,” Louis said, laughing as Harry brightened up visibly upon Louis saying that.

“You saw me?” he said with a smile. “I was wondering actually why you’re standing here, not participating or anything, while the rest of us have fun. It’s New Year’s and you’re barely drinking!”

Louis nodded a bit, holding up his beer. “I’m drinking enough. But it’s also my party and my responsibility, you know? I more enjoy watching everyone else have fun than doing so much participating, I think.”

Harry thanked the bartender for bringing him his own drink then turned to Louis. “People are too afraid to ask the star of the show to dance, aren’t they?”

Louis snorted. “The star of the show?” he asked, skeptically. 

“Duh,” Harry said before taking a swig of his drink. “They’re all here for you, don’t lie to yourself. It’s your name recognition that pulled them in. They’re just excited to be in your presence, though. And you’re formidable, I’ll give you that. You are quite intimidating, so they’re probably scared to ask you themselves if you aren’t already dancing.”

Louis side eyed Harry. “You are talking a load of shit right now. I am not intimidating.”

“Oh you  _ really _ are,” Harry argued. “I nearly shit myself when I came in to sing for you.”

“You did not,” Louis said, laughing. “You were so effortlessly cool.”

“I really was not, you are remembering things absolutely wrong,” Harry said, pushing at Louis’ shoulder gently. “But seriously, instead of arguing about all of this, you should come out on the dance floor and dance with me.”

Louis sighed and pretended to not want to, but when Harry took his hand and started pulling him towards the dance floor, he didn’t fight it. It was only about fifteen minutes until midnight anyway. If he was going to enjoy himself and dance at all, now really was the time.

When Louis came out on the floor and everyone dancing around them noticed it was him, they started cheering until others noticed Harry had gotten him out there. A chorus of “Yeah, Harry!” and “Way to go, Louis!” started up and Louis waved his hands at how ridiculous they were all being.

Then Liam turned on some Prince and everyone got dancing again.

Louis hadn’t even realized fifteen minutes had already passed until Liam announced the ball was about to drop in New York and they were pausing the music so they could show the live footage of Times Square.

“Hey,” Harry said in Louis’ hear, nudging him a little with his elbow. “You got your mind on anyone to kiss tonight?”

Louis shook his head and looked at Harry. “Nah, you?”

Harry shook his head as well before letting his eyes drop to Louis’ lips quickly. “Would you be alright with a kiss between friends? For tradition’s sake?”

Louis tilted his head back and laughed. “It’s better than spending it alone, holed up in my room and sleeping, for sure. Yeah, let’s do it.”

His smile in response was so wide, Louis wanted to lean into it right then, but he caught himself in time as everyone around them started counting down.

Louis turned back to the screen, joining in with everyone around them who had found someone to kiss and share the moment with, and when the ball lit up for the new year, Louis cheered with everyone else before turning to Harry and leaning in for a small kiss.

It meant nothing, it was only between friends after all, but it was also Louis’ first time kissing anyone but Greg in over a decade. It felt foreign, strange how they didn’t line up quite right, and yet still invigorating somehow. It was like a part of Louis that he thought had gone dormant and wouldn’t ever wake up again was starting to show signs of life. All because of a tiny kiss that lasted maybe two seconds.

“Happy New Year, Lou,” Harry said with a smile when he pulled back.

Louis smiled back. “Happy New Year, Harry.”

*~~***~~*

When Louis woke up the next day, he stretched and flexed and looked around his room. It was close to noon, insanely bright, and fucking  _ cold. _ It had been warmer than average the past several weeks, but apparently the new year brought with it colder temperatures, and he needed to up the heat to account for it.

When he opened his door, he heard talking and smelled bacon. Without even bothering to do more than brush his teeth and make sure he was appropriately covered, Louis went down to join the guys and whoever from the staff was still around since checkout had already passed.

When he entered the kitchen, Harry was at the stove, laughing at Niall while Liam and Zayn were absent.

“Hey, boss man,” Niall said with a smile. “Harry’s making us second breakfast, but I guess it’s your first since you just woke up.”

“And how long have you been awake?” Louis asked with a yawn. “You weren’t woken up at four this morning because of the heat going out in the staff quarters either, though, so let me live.”

Niall winced. “I’ve been up since ten, but you’re right, that’s shit. You get a pass.”

“And extra bacon,” Harry said with a smile, handing a full plate including toast, eggs, and bacon across the counter. 

“Fucking right,” Louis agreed, picking up the bacon and taking a bite. “You even made it crispy, just how I like it.”

Harry smiled and Louis poked his head into the living room, but it was empty. “Where are Zayn and Liam?”

At that, Niall and Harry looked at each other and burst out laughing. 

“What?” Louis asked, clueless and looking between the two. “Why’s that funny?”

“It’s probably going to take them awhile to join us,” Niall said with a cough towards his plate. 

“Yeah, they’re on like round five right now,” Harry said, causing the two of them to start laughing loudly again. 

“No,” Louis gasped. “They finally got their shit together?”

Niall nodded happily. “Only took them the five years I’ve known them!”

“Holy shit,” Louis said, sitting down on one of the stools across from where Harry was stationed at the stove, still finishing his cooking. “Well, good for them.”

Niall looked at the clock and sighed. “Well, it’s time for me to bow out. I’ll see you two in a couple weeks.”

Louis leaned in for a hug and then Niall rounded the counter to hug Harry as well before waving and leaving the kitchen. It felt oddly empty not having him there after Louis had gotten used to him being there almost nonstop for over a year.

“When are you heading out?” Louis asked before looking up at Harry.

Shrugging, Harry picked up his own plate and rounded the counter. “I think tomorrow, but it depends on when my friend is getting back to Nashville.”

“Oh, you’re going back during your time off?” Louis asked, happy to hear that Harry had worked out more solid plans. Last he heard, he was still unsure where he was going or what he was doing during his time between gigs at the inn.

“Yeah, gonna see if now that I’ve got your name behind me I can make any other connections there.”

Louis nodded. “I don’t have many people I know in Nashville, but I’ve got a few. If you want, I can always reach out to them and try to get you in contact with them.”

Harry’s eyes lit up. “Really? That would be great, if it isn’t too much of a bother.”

“Of course it isn’t,” Louis agreed. “A talent like yours deserves to go further than just my silly inn.”

“It’s not silly,” Harry argued, looking up at Louis with a fire in his eyes. “It’s incredible and very cool, is what it is.”

Louis shrugged. “Maybe for me it is, but it’s not a way for you to really get your name out there.”

“Maybe not, but it’s still an honor to be a part of.”

Louis smiled at his eggs. It felt like an honor for him to have Harry be a part of it as well. Once he got someone to actually make note of the talent he had and the way he could capture people’s attention and really hold onto it, Louis knew he would be huge. To think he could play any kind of role in helping Harry make his dreams come true was pretty damn cool.

“I’m glad you forced me to listen to you sing,” Louis said before shoving some toast in his mouth so he wouldn’t say anything more.

Harry chuckled. “Same.”


	8. Martin Luther King Jr Day 2025

After New Year’s went so well, it felt like everything surrounding Martin Luther King Jr Day was cursed. There had been a snowstorm so bad that the roads surrounding the farm hadn’t gotten clear until two days before the holiday, cutting short the band’s rehearsal time since Niall and Harry, both of whom were coming from out of town, hadn’t been able to make it when originally planned.

Then, two hours before people were allowed to start checking in, a pipe burst in one of the rooms. Louis had a difficult time finding a plumber last minute who could fully fix the issue that Liam had thankfully been able to temporarily take care of. He stopped any further damage, but the room couldn’t be used until it was fixed completely.

In a way, it was good then that Louis had had several last minute cancellations. At least he wouldn’t have to use the room tonight, but it still needed to be fixed, and the other rooms needed to be checked to be sure it wasn’t something they could have prevented somehow.

Now, hours before the show, Niall was sick and there was no way he would be able to take the stage.

“What the fuck is going on today?” Louis growled in frustration. He was pacing the upstairs hall of the farmhouse where no other staff were allowed. He didn’t want anyone else to see just how stressed out he was over everything. The band would know either way, though, because they were going to have to figure out how to cover Niall’s parts last minute.

“It’ll be alright, Louis. We’ll figure it out,” Zayn said. “Harry, do you think you can drop the piano and just do guitar?”

Harry nodded slowly, thinking. “I mean, yeah I could do that, but I’m not a lead guitarist like Niall is. I’m rhythm like Louis. We’ve got some time, though, so maybe if we head to the practice room now we can try to figure out a new balance?”

They agreed, made sure that Macey knew to check on Niall every so often and offer him chicken soup as well as gatorade and water before heading to the practice space.

It was small and Liam only had one drum, but it worked for them to figure out how to patch up the music they’d worked so hard to perfect the last two days.

For the most part, the songs were already fairly stripped down. It was the nature of the protest songs from the 1960s that they were concentrating on in order to really drive home the focus on King’s legacy. They’d made them their own, of course, but tried to really keep the original feel of the songs instead of making them rock focused.

“This Credence Clearwater Revival song is not going to work without Niall,” Liam said, voicing Louis’ thoughts. “It’s too reliant on him specifically, both with the guitar and the vocals. Sorry, Harry.”

“No, you’re right. It’s not about me, it’s about what losing Niall means for our sound,” Harry agreed. “What if…”

The three of them were quiet as Harry bit his lip, thinking. “I know it’s not even one we had on the long list of songs we were considering, but it’s the song I am the most confident with on the guitar and I do feel like it would fit best with this set we’ve got prepared.”

When Harry didn’t actually say the song title, Zayn threw his pick at him and said, “Well, what song are you talking about? Don’t leave us in the fucking dark, we’re running out of time.”

“Right, uh. What about Blackbird?”

“Oh,” Louis said, pausing. “I love that song.”

“Same, but I don’t know it at all,” Zayn said. “Like, for the bass.”

“That’s kind of the beauty of it and it’s power, though, isn’t it?” Louis asked. “I mean, if you listen to the original it’s basically just the guitar and mostly Paul singing with a bit of backup by John. We could do that with Harry. Give him a song for the spotlight.”

Harry’s eyes went wide. “Wait, what? No. That’s not what I was suggesting at all—”

“I know, but it’s what  _ I’m _ suggesting,” Louis interrupted. “Do you have a better idea?”

“I…” Harry blinked and swallowed as he looked at each of them. “No?”

Louis nodded. “Play it and sing it for us, yeah? I can try to be the John to your Paul.”

Harry blanched. “Don’t you dare ever compare me to Paul McCartney again or I swear he’ll come and hunt me down for besmirching his name without even meaning to.”

“Oh just play the song already,” Zayn snapped. “Let these two hear it. I need a fucking smoke.”

Zayn left the room and Liam winced. 

“Sorry. He’s been really anxious today,” Liam tried to explain.

“It’s alright, we all have days like that,” Louis said with a nod. “Go on, Harry.”

Harry nodded and, after he quickly checked the tuning on his guitar, started the well known introduction to the song. 

It was a bit shaky, but perfect for what they were looking for. Louis joined in on the chorus once or twice, but honestly felt as if he wasn’t adding anything.

When he finished, Louis clapped and said, “That’s it. That’s the last piece. You’ll do it as a solo.”

“What? Why won’t you join me for the chorus like you did there?” Harry asked, eyes a bit wild. “It was exactly how it should be with you joining me on those lines.”

“Don’t you think it was unnecessary?” Louis asked.

“No,” Harry said, forceful. “Liam? What do you think?”

Liam shrugged. “I think you could work it as a solo piece easily, but when Louis joined in, your voices really did sound so great together. It made it so those lines had that much more power.”

“See,” Harry said, turning to Louis with his hand outstretched towards Liam. “He thinks you should sing with me too.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Fine. But where does it fit in the set list? I don’t think it works to just sub it in where the other was.”

After a bit of arguing, they finally all agreed and when Zayn came back in from his smoke break, he seemed a lot more calm.

“You alright?” Louis asked him quietly as they prepared to go out on stage.

Zayn nodded. “Yeah. Just one of those days.”

Louis wrapped his arm around Zayn’s shoulders and pulled him as close as their guitars would allow. 

“Love you, man. Now let’s go out there and give them an awesome show.”

It was a lot less polished than their first three shows had been, but in the end the crowd still loved it and Louis felt amazing afterwards.

“Thank you for coming tonight and celebrating the man who inspired so much change. We are One Direction at One Night Inn. Good night!”

They left the stage and when they got back to the green room, Louis insisted they all put down their instruments for a moment and come in for a group hug.

“You were all amazing,” he said, proud of them and all they’d accomplished. “I’m so glad it’s you guys that I get to go on stage with and bust my ass musically with. That was incredible.”

The others agreed and tightened the hug a bit.

“And here’s to Harry fucking saving us with Blackbird!” Louis cheered.

Liam and Zayn joined in and they all focused the force of their hugs on Harry.

“Here’s to Harry! He might have been the last addition to the band, but we’d be lost without him,” Liam said.

“Here, here! Now, let’s go get the man some drinks,” Zayn said as they broke apart.

They hurriedly put away their instruments, then headed out to the bar. Liam joined them for one round of shots and then headed back up to the stage to DJ another hour again, a permanent addition to the holiday celebrations now.

“You really did do an amazing job tonight, Harry. I can’t thank you enough,” Louis said, once Zayn had wandered back up to the stage to be with Liam.

Harry’s blush, that had been near constant since they got off stage, deepened and he looked down at his drink. “It really wasn’t anything huge.”

“Sure it was,” Louis said, leaning against the bar, exhausted. “It was huge to me, if no one else.”

Harry looked up through his eyelashes. “Yeah?”

Louis nodded. “Yeah.”

They stood there in silence, eyes locked, until someone interrupted and asked Harry to dance. He turned to look at Louis, almost like he was asking permission, and Louis waved him away.

“Go out there and have some fun,” he insisted. “You, of all people, deserve it tonight.”

“Thanks, Lou,” Harry said quietly before heading off to the dance floor.

Louis watched him leave, then decided to head back to his room.

It absolutely wasn’t because he was jealous. Of course not. He was just beyond tired after a long, stressful few days. That was definitely the only reason.


	9. Valentine's Day 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is it weird of me to say i really love this chapter? i just love how clueless louis is. so. hope you enjoy that too. lollll

“Lou!”

Louis looked up from where he was signing a bunch of paperwork so it was all out of the way before things really went crazy when guests started to arrive. 

“What?” he asked as Niall came rushing in. “Why do you look so concerned?”

“We fucked up, man,” Niall whispered.

Louis looked around and saw no one else inside the tiny room Louis used as his office. “And how exactly did we do that?” Louis whispered back, just to humor him.

“We missed Harry’s birthday!”

Louis sat back in his chair and thought about it. He actually didn’t know when Harry’s birthday was. That… was maybe a little irresponsible of him. He was pretty sure he knew when everyone else’s was. Zayn’s was after Martin Luther King Jr Day because he and Liam had finally decided to make things official after Liam went all sappy for his birthday. Niall’s and Liam’s were close to each other, both in September he thought, but one of them might be late August. But Harry? He was drawing a blank.

“Fuck, I don’t even know when his birthday is,” Louis admitted. He felt awful, now. 

“We didn’t either. It was two weeks ago and he spent it all alone in Nashville, sleeping on a friend’s couch.” Niall’s face showed just how horrible he thought that set up was. “No one should have to spend their birthday alone on a friend’s couch.”

“Yeah, not really ideal.” Louis pursed his lips. “Think we should do something for him? Like, belatedly? We haven’t really done anything for the rest of us, but do you think we should start?”

Niall gave Louis an unimpressed look. “The rest of us didn’t have to worry about our birthdays being quite as shitty as his was. Yes, we need to do something for him.”

“What, though?” Louis asked. “We’re a bit busy the entire rest of the day and the President’s Day show is only three days away.”

“I’ll figure something out, alright? You giving me the okay?”

Louis narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure, actually. Knowing you, it’ll be something I don’t actually want happening.”

“I don’t even really need your permission,” Niall said, raising his hands and walking back out of Louis’ office. “I’m doing what I want to do anyway. Just know I was going to share details with you, but I’m not now, so it’ll be a surprise for both of you.”

“Just don’t make a mess,” Louis yelled after him. “I have enough to do already!”

“Sorry to bother you when you’re so busy, then,” Harry said as he knocked on the open door.

No wonder Niall was whispering. Harry was a fucking ninja.

“No, you’re fine. It’s just Niall being Niall,” Louis said, waving his hand around. “He’s like a hurricane leaving destruction in his path everywhere he goes, but he’s so charismatic that you’re still smiling even as you clean up his mess. It’s awful, actually.”

Harry laughed. “I can see that being true, actually.”

Louis smiled at him. “Yeah. So what can I do to help you?”

“Oh, nothing. I just came by to give you this.”

Harry set down a small brown box tied with a red ribbon in front of Louis before stepping back towards the doorway again.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Harry,” Louis said, now feeling even more guilty than he had before. He reached out for the gift and looked up at Harry. “I didn’t even think of getting anyone gifts for the holiday, I’m so sorry.”

Harry blushed and shook his head. “It’s fine, really. It’s just something small, it doesn’t even really matter. I just wanted you to know that at least someone was thinking of you today.”

Louis smiled and nodded. He really did feel a sense of caring because Harry went through the trouble of getting him a gift, even if it was something silly and small.

“Thank you. That is very nice of you and I really do appreciate it.”

“No problem. Okay, well I’ve gotta work out that last trouble spot with Liam on Time of My Life, so I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. Bye, Harry.”

Louis watched as Harry walked away again and then turned his attention to the gift. He gently untied the ribbon and was impressed with how soft it was. He was used to the cheap, stiff stuff, but Harry had used a nice, satin ribbon.

When he pulled the lid off, he laughed. It really was something small, but Louis couldn’t help but love it. It was a small wrapped chocolate with the image of a dozen red roses on the wrapper with Anthony Thomas Chocolates in pretty script along the bottom. It was very thoughtful and sweet and incredibly Harry. 

He was so tempted to eat it, but at the same time wanted to save it as a memento. After all, it wasn’t every day that a gorgeous man bought him flowers.

Snorting to himself, Louis propped it up against his mug that held his pens and then turned back to the paperwork. 

*~~***~~*

“I’m going to distract Harry now, when the delivery comes, just accept it and put it in his room. Okay?”

Louis looked at Niall with some concern. “What are you having delivered?”

“Oh my god, will you just trust me?” he asked before turning and yelling for Harry to join him on a walk to check on the horses.

“I’m going to regret this,” Louis muttered before turning and walking back to the farmhouse.

Guests had started arriving and they still had a few hours until dinner started and then it would be time for their show. They’d had a lot of fun coming up with a set list revolving mostly around well known love songs that they could give a bit of a punk rock vibe. Louis loved a bit of romance, but also enjoyed being able to give it some flair when he was able.

“Hey, what’s with the chocolate you have on display in your office?” Liam asked when Louis entered the living room.

“What do you mean?” Louis asked, sitting down beside him. “Didn’t Harry give you one too?”

Liam’s eyebrows slowly rose and soon an excited smile took over his face. “Harry gave you chocolate flowers?”

“Yeah,” Louis said slowly. “Wait, did he only do that for me? I thought he did it for everyone.”

Liam shook his head and looked absolutely gleeful. “I knew it. I told Zayn he was totally crushing on you.”

“What? Noooo,” Louis said, laughing at the possibility. “I think you’ve got this all wrong. He was clearly just being nice.”

Liam shook his head again. “Nope, really don’t think so. He didn’t give chocolate flowers to anyone else.”

“He said it was nothing, it was just something small…” Louis said, now looking back at the interaction again and wondering about Harry’s intentions. “I thought he was just being nice.”

“What else did he say?” Liam asked, scooting closer to Louis and nudging his elbow. 

“I don’t know,” Louis said, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair. “Something about wanting me to know that someone was thinking of me today, I think.”

“Oh my god. Zee, come here!”

“What, babe. I was about to go have a quick nap before helping with the balloons.” Zayn pouted as he came walking out of the kitchen.

“Harry is totally into Louis,” Liam said excitedly.

“He is not,” Louis argued before turning to look at Zayn. “He’s not. Liam’s blowing this out of proportion.”

“Liar,” Liam said, smiling widely. “Tell him what Harry gave you and what he said when he did.”

Louis rolled his eyes but did as Liam instructed and soon Zayn had a smile just as big as Liam’s. 

“Oh my god, babes, he’s so into you. Liam’s right.”

“What?” Louis said, surprised. “You think so too?”

“Definitely,” Zayn agreed, nodding his head. “That’s so cute!”

Louis bit his lip and looked into the fireplace. The fire was still going strong but would need to have another log added before too long. 

“You think he’s interested in me? I’m a complete mess and I have so much baggage and we barely know each other…” Louis kept thinking of excuse after excuse, so quickly that he couldn’t even voice them all, so he just trailed off as he stared into the flames.

“You’re an idiot if you think he’s  _ not _ interested,” Liam said with a sigh. “He’s looked at you differently from the rest of us from the moment he showed up here. And just because you barely know each other doesn’t mean that you can’t get to know each other. After all, we’re all here through President’s Day and we already have most of those songs ready, so just maybe focus on Harry a little bit more than the work you’ve mostly got done. Alright?”

Louis looked at Liam and Zayn, both sitting there watching him with hopeful faces. “I have no idea how to do this anymore,” Louis admitted. “I haven’t tried to start something new with anyone in something ridiculous like twelve years, and even then Greg and I just fell into each other’s orbits. This is entirely different.”

“It is,” Zayn said. “Which is why it’ll also end differently than how it did with Greg. Harry is not the kind of person to run away from you like an asshole with no warning. Just have faith in him as a person and know he’s not Greg. Alright?”

“I’ll try,” Louis said with a smile. 

Liam and Zayn got up and left, and Louis tried to keep his mind on getting things ready for that night’s festivities as well as keeping an eye out for whatever it was that Niall had ordered for Harry’s belated birthday present.


	10. President's Day 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches...
> 
> Okay for real, though, I came up with entire themes and directions that Louis would take the music for every one of these holidays and some of them were hard but others were a lot more fun. Most of the time the details surrounding the songs and how I chose them and what the songs even WERE hardly even mentioned, but just know that even if I don't know an entire set list, I generally had at least a few songs in mind that they would do for that holiday's set.

Niall’s gift had never arrived, and he’d been pretty pissed. He pouted through their entire concert that night and had called to argue with the company for the second time the next day. They’d given him a pretty deep discount, which had appeased him, but it was now President’s day, over two weeks after Harry’s birthday, and the gift still hadn’t arrived though he apparently had tracking on it and it was set to be delivered that afternoon.

“I think that maybe I need to work a little more on my original stuff,” Harry said as he shivered in the wind.

Louis had asked him three times if he wanted to grab his coat before following Louis to the staff quarters and he’d said he would be fine. He was clearly regretting it now, though.

“I thought you said you already had a pretty decent number of your own songs,” Louis said, confused. “Weren’t they what you were using for your open mic sets and things?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, teeth chattering now. 

Louis rolled his eyes and grabbed Harry’s arm so he would stop for a moment. 

“Next time, will you please listen to me when I tell you the temps have dropped and it’s fucking cold outside?” Louis asked as he wrapped his own scarf around Harry’s neck and gave him his gloves as well. 

“It isn’t actually that bad out here, if it weren’t for the wind,” Harry argued before starting to walk again.

“We’ll grab one of the extra blankets in the linen closet for the walk back. I don’t want you getting sick because of this when you’ve got a decent chunk of time to spend in Nashville this time around,” Louis said, shaking his head. 

“I was actually going to ask you about that,” Harry said, sounding nervous.

“Ask me about what?” Louis said. 

“I haven’t gotten any decent gigs just yet, I’m guessing that more will open up here in a month or so since they’ll probably increase performers in the various locations for tourist season, and I want to be ready for it,” Harry explained. “I was kind of hoping that you’d be alright with me staying here through St. Patrick’s Day and then I’d go back down and see what I could do with my new music.”

Louis would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous about the idea of three weeks alone with Harry on the farm not counting the two guys who worked the stables for him. He also felt a thrill run through him at the possibility of having that much time to get to know Harry better, though, and in the end that was what won out. Besides, if it would actually help Harry, then why should he say no?

“Yeah, that’s fine with me,” Louis said, shrugging. 

“Wait, really?” Harry said, looking at Louis in shock. “I didn’t think you’d actually be okay with that.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Louis asked, laughing. “This place mostly sits empty outside of me, and as much as I thought I wanted that when I bought the place, I’ve learned that I don’t do very well when I’m entirely alone.”

Harry studied Louis before stepping up to the door of the employee quarters and stepping into the warmth.

“Then why do you have us all leave in between?” Harry asked. “Wouldn’t it be easier if we all practiced and worked through the music together instead of separately?”

Louis nodded before heading to the room that had a jammed door he needed to try to fix. 

“It would be, yeah, and honestly I prefer a more collaborative setting. But I’m not really going to be able to pay you guys what you deserve for another few months still and it honestly felt like I was being selfish keeping all of you here with me between the holidays. That wasn’t what anyone signed up for.”

Harry shook his head as Louis started attempting to use the door so he could try to ascertain the issue. Louis had ruled out the handle and locking mechanism on the door already by the time Harry spoke. 

“You don’t think you’re paying us enough already?” Harry asked, audibly surprised. “How much were you expecting to pay us?”

Louis looked at Harry, confused. “Didn’t you read that part of the contract?” 

“Honestly? No,” Harry said, laughing and running his gloved hand through his hair, making the ends rise up with the static. “I didn’t really care what I was going to get paid. I was getting to play in a band with  _ you. _ Then I got the first paycheck, and it was more than I’d ever made gigging, so I thought you just didn’t want anyone around in between or something.”

Louis turned the handle and put his shoulder against the door near where he thought the blockage was and really put his weight behind it, finally getting the door open with a loud, almost cracking sound.

“Shit,” Louis cursed, looking up and running his hand against the edge of the door and the doorjamb. “Going to have to get the contractor out for that, I don’t want to do something and ruin it.”

Quickly texting the contractor he’d used, Louis then made sure that all of the employee’s things were safely stowed where no one could get to them until their door was taken care of. Then he turned back to Harry.

“Look, I’m severely underpaying you at the moment, but that will be remedied. If you read your contract, you’ll see that out of the amount that goes towards the band as the main draw for the tickets to be purchased, we’re dividing it evenly between all of us. You’ll get a fifth of what the band gets.”

Harry’s eyes bugged out. “What? Are you serious?”

“Yeah?” Louis said. He wasn’t sure why Harry was so surprised about it, it only seemed fair to Louis. They all pulled their weight and worked hard for what they were earning. 

Harry was quiet after that, so Louis made his way to the linen closet. Pulling out a quilt, Louis turned and wrapped it around Harry, who still hadn’t said anything.

“What are you thinking?” Louis asked as he settled the blanket on Harry’s shoulders.

Licking his lips, Harry said, “That maybe I should rethink this whole trying to make it in Nashville thing.”

Louis froze. “Why? Isn’t that your dream?”

Harry shook his head. “No. My dream is to make my living making music. Isn’t that what I’m doing right now?’

Louis studied Harry’s face. He was being absolutely serious, but Louis couldn’t help but feel that what he had at his inn, as much as he loved it, was not what Harry was destined for. He was so much better than playing punked out covers on some farm in rural Pennsylvania for a crowd of two or three hundred people. He deserved arenas of screaming fans as he strutted the stage in a flashy outfit, singing his own songs that actually meant something to him.

“You deserve so much more than just this,” Louis said, trying his best to put the full force of his honesty into his words so that Harry might believe them.

“Maybe,” Harry said simply, “but I’m not sure I want it.”

Louis’ heart started to race, and that was his signal to get Harry back to the farmhouse. He was pretty sure that Niall would have whatever birthday surprise he’d ordered in place to finally show Harry they hadn’t meant to overlook his birthday.

As they walked back to the farmhouse in silence, Louis shoved his hands into his coat pockets to cover up the fact he was shaking. It was ridiculous, that Harry could effect him so much so quickly, and he didn’t really fully understand why it scared him so much. It had been more than two years now, and yes, he still felt the pain of it all, but he was ready to move on as well. He and Greg were absolutely finished, and Louis knew he deserved to be happy, he just didn’t really know what that meant to him anymore.

Was he willing to risk the attempt to find out what it might mean with someone as wonderful as Harry? That almost made Harry seem like an experiment, a rebound. Louis didn’t want him to be just that, but he also didn’t know how to navigate any of this. He’d never thought this far ahead. For most of his adult life, he and Greg had been together and Greg was meant to be his end all, be all. He hadn’t thought past Greg or considered what to do without him, so everything he’d been doing for the past two years had been without any sort of plan. 

Harry deserved a plan. Taking a deep breath and watching the frosty white air stream forward before puffing into his face when he blew it out, Louis made his decision. For now, he would get to know Harry. Figure out if he thought Harry was actually interested in him like Liam and Zayn seemed to think. If it really did look to be mutual and they were getting along as friends, then Louis would think about  _ maybe _ taking things to the next level with him.

“Harry!” Niall yelled from the farmhouse door. “Come inside! We’ve got a surprise for you!”

Louis pursed his lips in an attempt to keep a straight face, but knew by the way Harry knit his brows together when he glanced in Louis’ direction that he had failed.

“A surprise?” he asked.

Louis nodded. “Yeah. I swear, I don’t even know what it is. Niall got our permission to act on our behalf and then did the rest on his own, and I promise you, he took it very seriously.”

“Come on, come on, come on,” Niall said, jumping around and rubbing his arms. “It’s cold out, fucking hell.”

The two of them bundled into the house and removed their layers and boots before heading upstairs behind Niall who was chattering the whole time.

“You’re here!” Liam yelped as Niall yelled at Zayn to close Harry’s bedroom door.

“Why was it open to begin with?” Harry asked, trying to peek around them as they shut the door. “This is a  _ good _ surprise, right?”

“I sure fucking hope so,” Louis muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Harry asked into Louis’ ear. 

Louis shivered a little at his breath hitting his neck. “Nothing,” he said, with a bright fake smile. “So, Niall, when do we get to actually see the surprise?”

“After my speech, of course,” Niall said, shaking his head as if Louis was the one being ridiculous in that moment. “Harry, we didn’t mean to miss your birthday and we are so very sorry that this is as late as it is, but we worked as fast as we could. We wanted to show you how much we appreciate you, so happy belated birthday!”

With a flourish, he, Zayn, and Liam opened the door to Harry’s bedroom where there was a large box sitting by the end of the bed. An incredibly large box.

“The fuck did you get him, Ni?” Louis asked as they all walked inside.

“Can I… open it?  _ Should _ I open it?” Harry asked, warily approaching the box. It was large enough an adult could easily fit inside with just a bit of a crouch, so Louis understood his caution.

“Of course!” Niall said, holding out a pair of scissors for Harry to use. Harry started working at the tape and after a few minutes of struggling with the angle was able to get the box open. 

“What is it?” Liam asked, bouncing a little in excitement beside Zayn. 

“Yeah, it was pretty heavy and awkward to get upstairs,” Zayn said, arching his neck in an attempt to see around the parts of the box.

“It’s a… bear?” Harry said, sounding a little confused but still pleased. “I’m pretty sure it’s a really large teddy bear.”

“It is!” Niall said, moving forward. “I’m impressed with the size and heft, actually. They gave me the size dimensions but it’s one thing to hear them and another to see it, you know? Like, they said the bear was five feet, but I didn’t realize what that meant until it showed up.”

“You got Harry a five foot teddy bear?” Louis asked him in amazement. 

“No,  _ we _ got Harry a five foot teddy bear,” Niall said, glaring at Louis. “It’s very sweet, don’t you think?”

Louis didn’t even know how to respond to that.

“Do you guys mind helping me get this thing out of the box?” Harry asked. He was now standing on the foot of his bed in an attempt to get better leverage on the bear. “Zayn was right, it’s heavier than you’d think and with it being as soft and fluffy as it is, it’s hard to get a good grip.”

They eventually decided to just push the box on its side and slide the bear out. It was still stupidly difficult to maneuver, but Louis supposed it was just dead weight in a fluffy, fake fur suit. 

Once they got it sitting up, they all stood in front of it and took it in. 

“Sweetie,” Zayn said, deadpan. “The bear is holding a red satin heart that says ‘sweetie’ on it.”

“I know,” Niall said, pulling at his hair. “When they fucked up the first order, they didn’t have anything else left, so I had to get one of their leftover Valentine’s Day bears. Sorry, Harry. Not that you aren’t worth more than just some leftovers, but it’s the best I could do with so little notice.”

“Are you trying to say you don’t think I’m sweet, Zayn?” Harry asked, folding his arms and looking a bit annoyed.

That was it. That was all Louis could take without finally losing it. He tried to hold in the laughter, but it just came out as a squeak which made his eyes water and he couldn’t stop it anymore. The giggles started tumbling out and he wrapped his arms around his stomach in an attempt to calm him, but that didn’t work either. Thankfully, his laughter seemed to inspire everyone else to see the humor in the situation and soon all of them were laughing so hard they were wiping tears from their faces.

“I cannot believe you guys did this for me,” Harry said through his chuckles as they started calming down. “I love it. I do. I thought if you did anything, you’d just get me a gift card to Guitar Center or something.” 

“Fuck, I didn’t even think of a gift card.” Niall sounded wondrous at the very possibility of a gift card, which was honestly Louis’ very first thought when it came to a last minute gift, that everyone broke down into laughter again.

“Shit, if we want to get the sound balanced right for Peaches and Signed, Sealed, Delivered then we need to get over to the performance barn,” Liam pointed out.

Louis checked the time. He was right. If they didn’t get over there and take care of the sound now then they risked having guests showing up for their dinner as they wrapped up.

“Well, let’s go,” Louis said, wiping under his eyes one last time. “And happy belated birthday, Harold.”

“Thank you. It was very nice of you guys,” Harry said. 

Louis knew it was a thank you to all of them, but the way his eyes stayed on Louis as he said it made Louis’ walk through the cold a bit warmer.


	11. St. Patrick's Day 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of my favorite chapters to write, so I hope you enjoy reading it :D

“What the hell happened with you two while we were gone?” Zayn asked as soon as Louis walked out of the back of the barn, pulling out a cigarette.

Zayn held up a lighter for him, but he shook his head. He’d just use his own and use his shirt to hide it from the wind. It was the only decent way he’d found to ease the frustration of getting a cigarette going in the crazy weather they’d had lately.

“What are you talking about?” Louis asked once he’d gotten it to light. “Me and Harry?”

“Of course I’m talking about you and Harry,” Zayn said, studying Louis’ face in the light of the sunset. “It’s been pretty damn clear ever since the rest of us got here, but you two are inseparable. You’re finishing each other’s sentences and doing this whole weird thing where you just look at each other and it’s like you’ve had a whole conversation. You were always on the same wavelength, but it’s like you two can read each other’s minds now, and it’s honestly kind of creepy.”

Louis snorted. “Thanks for that.”

“Did you two hook up or something?”

In his shock at Zayn assuming such a thing and outright asking about it, Louis breathed in sharply and his lungs burned with the sudden fill of smoke. He leaned forward, coughing a bit and trying to soothe his lungs with the cold, fresh air.

“What the fuck?” Louis asked as he continued to cough. “Why would you think something like that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Zayn asked, eyebrows raised. “Things have been… I don’t even know. They’ve been different or whatever between you guys since he joined us. It’s part of the reason Liam and I are so sure you two will get together. But after Valentine’s Day with his chocolate gift for you and then his reaction to that fucking bear Niall had the brilliant idea to get him? It just made sense when we came back to find you two now share a brain that you probably shared a bed as well.”

“Oh my god.” Louis took in a long, slow drag which thankfully his lungs accepted much more easily. “No, we haven’t slept together, in any iteration of the phrase. There’s literally nothing going on with the two of us.”

“Well clearly there is something going on,” Zayn said. “Niall has been watching you two like a hawk for days trying to figure it out. Doesn’t know why you two won’t come out and tell us you’re together.”

Louis blinked in surprise. “But we aren’t together.”

“I know.”

Sighing, Louis smashed the end of his cigarette against his usual knot in the side of the barn and dropped his cigarette into the jar they were currently collecting the butts in before leaning against the barn and studying his shoes.

Zayn continued to slowly smoke in silence, letting Louis get lost in his thoughts for a few moments.

It wasn’t like he didn’t want something to happen with Harry, but all of his concerns from earlier were still there. He did know Harry better now, and he had come to be one of his closest and best friends. 

The most surprising thing he had learned over the past month was that Harry understood Louis with an ease that no one else ever had. It was liberating to feel like he could say almost anything and he never needed to explain his motivations or reasons for saying it. Harry already knew. And it was the same for him with Harry. Ever since the others had come back, they’d almost been acting like translators for the other when they were having a difficult time finding the words to make their point.

Maybe he could understand why they thought there was something more going on with him and Harry. 

“Listen,” Zayn said, waiting until Louis was looking at him before he said more. “I know it’s hard to work through the shit Greg did to you, and I don’t even know all of it. I only know what little you’ve shared and what the dumbass gossip headlines said, but it is easy to see that it fucked you up a bit, and that’s fair. But maybe Harry’s the one who can help you really let it all go. You know?”

Louis breathed in shakily. “Yeah. It’s just…” Louis shook his head. What was he even trying to say? That it was harder than it sounded? That he didn’t want to risk hurting Harry due to his broken pieces? Then he realized there really was one word that could sum it all up. “It’s terrifying.”

Zayn nodded. “Yeah. It is.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Nice supportive speech there.”

“It’s me, man. I don’t know what else you were expecting me to say.”

Louis laughed and pushed off the barn. Zayn fell into place beside him and Louis smiled at the sight of cars coming up the long drive. It never failed to fill him with excitement knowing that other people wanted to come out here for the experience of having a bit of a holiday party hosted by Louis. He could already feel the buzz that he got leading up to every show he had ever done slowly building beneath his skin.

“I’m only gonna say one last thing, alright? And then you don’t have to hear me talk about this anymore unless you want to talk about it.”

Louis looked at Zayn, but he was watching the path they were walking down instead of meeting his eyes.

Swallowing, Zayn said, “It’s alright if it takes you awhile to get there. I’m pretty damn sure that Harry would be willing to wait for you. But know that when it’s the right person, it is worth dealing with that fear because you end up with so much more than you could have imagined, and it really is something great.”

Louis smiled. He’d thought he had known what that was like before. Maybe he was just fooling himself again by thinking Harry could be that something great for him.

But maybe he wasn’t.

*~~***~~*

Louis was drunk. Like really,  _ really _ drunk. It had been an incredibly long time since he had been this level of drunk.

“I know, same!” Harry yelled in Louis’ ear. 

Oh. Apparently he’d said that part out loud. Louis was having a hard time knowing what he was thinking versus what he was saying at this point, but he made a note to try to be better about not saying everything he was thinking before it embarrassed him.

“You know,” Harry said, leaning further into Louis so he could be heard over the Irish music Liam was playing for the party, “I don’t usually like getting this drunk unless I’m at home or with someone I know will take care of me and not take advantage or something if I pass out.”

“That’s kind of morbid,” Louis tried to say, but his speech was pretty damn slurred at this point so he didn’t know if Harry could even understand what he had said. “Could you understand that?”

Harry smiled at him, his eyes glazed and beautiful, then shook his head slowly. “Nope. But that’s okay. You were very cute when you said it.”

Louis shoved at Harry, and must have accidentally pushed harder than he meant to, because Harry tilted over so severely he had to lean his hand against the wall to keep his balance. 

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Louis said, giggling and helping Harry stand up straight again. “But it is only right you almost fell. How dare you call me cute. I am  _ not _ cute! I am…” Louis blinked his eyes. He couldn’t think of a better word for what he was.

“Rugged,” Harry said, giggling. “Manly.”

“Yes,” Louis agreed, nodding. “Yes, exactly.”

“You’re also cute,” Harry whisper-yelled.

Drunk Harry was adorable. They needed to get drunk together more often.

“Fine. I guess I can be rugged and manly  _ and _ cute,” Louis agreed.

Harry smiled at Louis, looking pleased with himself before yawning.

“Oh nooooo,” Harry wailed before sticking his bottom lip out ridiculously at Louis. “Beer always makes me sleepy. I knew I should have stuck with shots.”

“Awwww,” Louis cooed. Why was he cooing? Harry wasn’t a baby. “I’m sorry. I just thought it made sense that we have a good, solid, Irish beer to celebrate the holiday!”

“I should have had a cider instead,” Harry said with a sigh and another yawn. “I don’t know if cider makes me sleepy or not.”

Louis nodded. “Well, let’s get you to bed.”

“You should stay and party more,” Harry said before turning towards the door and tripping over his own wobbly legs. “Oh my god, the floor is moving. When did you get a tilting floor?”

Louis started giggling and covered his mouth with the back of his hand so Harry wouldn’t hear him and think he was laughing at him. Even though he kind of was.

“That’s you, H, not the floor,” Louis said. “Do you need help getting back safely? If you can wait for me to have a glass of water, I can walk you back.”

“Yes please,” Harry said, his eyes wide. “Thank you so much.”

Louis kept giggling as he walked to the bar and asked for a water. Why was he giggling? He couldn’t remember now.

Sipping at his water, Louis sat down on a stool and turned to watch Harry talking excitedly with a couple of women who were decked out in green and rainbows. He had no idea what any of them were saying, but they all looked so happy, it made Louis happy. He wanted Harry to always be that happy.

Water glass empty, Louis felt… well he felt like he had to piss, actually, but he figured he would be steady enough to help Harry make it back to his room safely, so Louis pulled Harry away from the fans, doing his best to apologize as Harry yawned and waved at them. With Harry’s arm around his shoulder and his arm around Harry’s waist, they started their awkward hobble back to the farmhouse.

The cold air combined with the water worked well to sober Louis fairly quickly, and he felt like he was on the right side of tipsy by the time they had to make their way up the stairs.

Harry, however, was not so lucky.

“Louuuuu, I’m so tired,” Harry complained into Louis’ neck.

Louis wasn’t actually sure how he managed to be draped that way and not throw them entirely off balance, but he’d done it somehow.

“I know, babe. Keep on moving, we’re over halfway there. Almost done, now.”

Harry immediately stopped trying to climb the steps and froze entirely.

“What, no. Harry, that’s the exact opposite of what I asked you to do,” Louis said, trying not to whine in frustration. He was also beyond exhausted after the crazy day and wanted to just climb into bed and sleep. He couldn’t do that as long as he was dragging this gorgeous buffoon to his own room.

“Say it again,” Harry demanded, pulling back enough to look at Louis’ face instead of his shoulder.

Louis tried to focus on his eyes, but he was too close and the stench of the alcohol from his mixed drinks was honestly potent enough to make Louis’ own eyes water, so he gave up quickly. 

“What do you want me to say, Harold? Move your damn feet and help me out here?”

“No. You called me babe.”

Louis blinked and thought back quickly before sighing and apologizing. “I guess I did. It just happened, I’m sorry if it bothered you. I can avoid calling you that again, but I really need you to keep climbing these stairs, alright?”

“No,” Harry said, shaking his head fervently.

“Oh my god, Harry,” Louis said, tilting his head back to growl at the ceiling. “I’m going to leave you on the stairs to sleep the night away and then you’ll never be able to walk again because your back will hate you.”

“No, I mean, I’ll climb the stairs, but I like it. Please don’t stop.”

Louis took a deep breath and tried to make sense of what Harry was saying.

“Don’t stop… calling you babe?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, a shy smile on his face now. “I like it.”

Louis was definitely blushing now, so he tried to hide his smile in his shoulder, but ended up just nuzzling into Harry’s hand because he forgot the man was completely draped over him. Oh well, good enough.

“Okay, babe. Well, uh, let’s get moving again, shall we?”

Harry nodded and started slowly making his way up the stairs again with only a few minor balance issues and soon enough Harry was blessedly on his bed.

“You gonna be alright sleeping in your jeans?” Louis asked, glancing at them and honestly unsure how Harry got into them in the first place. 

They were loose around his ankles, not quite a bell bottom, but definitely gearing up for it, but the thighs looked insanely snug.

“Yeah.” Harry let out a content sigh before rolling onto his side and pulling the quilt around him like a cocoon. “Night, Lou. Thanks for taking care of me,” Harry mumbled into his pillow.

“Night, H. Sleep well. Be sure to wake me up before you leave in the morning.”

Harry hummed a little and then let out a snore.

Smiling perhaps a bit too fondly for someone who was only a friend, Louis turned off the lights and let himself out of Harry’s room. Patting himself on the back for not just climbing in beside Harry like he wanted to, he went back to his room and fell asleep. 


	12. Holy Week/Easter 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *flails a little* i just really love themmmmmmm
> 
> okay, on to the chapter, thanks. lol

Louis heard a car door slam and he rushed outside. It was the longest they’d been apart since they’d formed the band and Louis wasn’t doing well after three weeks of almost exclusively being alone. He was glad that Zayn and Liam were staying after to help Louis get his new studio completely outfitted now that the contractors had finished their work, because he wasn’t sure how he’d handle just over a month without anyone around otherwise.

“I didn’t realize all four of you were arriving at the same time,” Louis said as all of them cheered and rushed towards him for a hug.

Harry was the first to reach him and he hit Louis with such force, he would have absolutely lost his balance if the other three hadn’t surrounded them soon after.

“Missed you,” Harry whispered.

Louis hardly had time to take in his confession when Zayn cried out, over dramatically, “Oh, Louis! Our time apart was far too long! Don’t ever force us to leave you for that amount of time ever again.”

Louis laughed and enjoyed the noise and chaos that was back.

“Yeah, I’ve missed all of you too,” he said, making sure to tighten his arms around Harry so he knew that Louis especially meant him.

Considering Harry had been with him so often over the winter, especially when it was just the two of them leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, Louis should have expected that he would miss Harry quite a bit when he left to go down to Nashville, armed with his newly written and rehearsed original songs. He knew he would miss him, but the loneliness he felt and the ache that seemed to take residence in his chest had been far worse than he’d imagined.

“Alright, enough sappy shit,” Niall said, smacking Liam upside the head and licking Zayn’s cheek. “Let’s get everything inside and start playing some music, yeah?”

“You’re disgusting,” Zayn said before walking back to his car with Liam.

Harry had finally pulled back, his nose scrunched up a little, but he showed no signs of heading to his car to finish unloading his trunk.

“Hey,” Louis said with a smile.

Harry blushed and laughed. “Hey, yourself. Can’t wait to see the studio in person.”

“Yeah,” Louis said, excitedly. “Well, it’s more like the shell of a studio. The bare bones, if you will. The main equipment is expected to be delivered this week, so there’s still a lot of work left to do, but the vibe of it is there and I think you’ll like it.”

Harry nodded. “Based on the pictures you sent, I will.”

Louis might have gone overboard with sending Harry pictures of the progress on the studio, but he couldn’t help it. He was excited and he’d known from the very beginning it was going to be perfect for him. He loved recording spaces that had their own character and sense of space, and this farmhouse definitely provided that. He couldn’t wait to try it out.

Also, he and Harry had been texting a lot more the past month since they had gotten so close in February and March. So he’d used that as an excuse to keep the conversation going as well.

“Need help getting your stuff?” Louis asked as the other three moved into the house with their arms already loaded.

“Nah, I’ve got it,” Harry said before heading back to his car. “Just gotta actually do it.”

Louis left him to it and yelled into the house. “Hey, fuckers, I’ll be getting things set up in the barn.”

Niall yelled something unintelligible back while Zayn and Liam mostly grunted their acknowledgement from what Louis could tell, but he turned to head over anyway. He’d missed playing with them in person more than he’d expected. Their zoom sessions to talk through the questions they had on arrangements and for song planning in general had always been fine before, but now that Louis felt closer to them all he missed having all of them in the same place. If Niall wasn’t doing so well in Philly and if Harry hadn’t seemed to finally start making some progress in Nashville, he’d see if they’d be interested in staying even between gigs. Especially now that he had a studio. It was an extra bargaining tool.

“Hey, can you take my guitar for me since you’re heading over already?” Harry asked, shifting things in his arms around so he could hand it to Louis.

“Of course,” Louis said, smiling. 

By the time the others joined him, Louis already had most of the equipment set up so they were able to talk out their problem areas while Liam got his drums set up. Zayn and Niall were in the middle of a spat over the second verse of Easter Parade and Louis was already tired of it, so he walked over and sat down on Harry’s lap where he’d been texting and sitting in front of his keyboard.

“I’m bored. Entertain me,” Louis said as he put an arm around Harry’s neck. 

Harry immediately wrapped his arms around Louis’ waist, and Louis was surprised. They’d been somewhat tactile before, but never anything quite like this. Louis had expected a reaction of some sort when he’d entered Harry’s personal space, particularly because of the whole sitting on his lap thing, but Harry seemed entirely comfortable with it. 

“I’m not sure how you want me to entertain you,” Harry said, chuckling a little as he shifted a bit. 

Louis started trying to get off in case he was hurting Harry, but his arms tightened around Louis’ waist, so he relaxed back into it.

“Sorry, just wanted to get to a position that is a little more comfortable with you in my lap. Anyway, I can’t really dance like this and you always say my jokes are bad, so like I said, I don’t know what exactly you want from me right now.”

Louis sighed. “Literally  _ anything, _ Harold.”

Harry’s eyes quickly darted down to Louis’ lips before immediately meeting Louis’ eyes again, but just that brief moment was enough to get his heart racing. Louis’ first reaction was to be overdramatic and say he hadn’t meant anything like that, because he hadn’t. He was just being stupid and comfortable with Harry like he used to be with all his former bandmates. 

He couldn’t tease Harry that way, though, because he also wouldn’t complain should Harry actually try to kiss him. He didn’t want Harry thinking he wouldn’t want him to try, though it would be nice to have their first kiss not be in front of Larry, Curly, and Mo behind them.

_ First _ kiss. Louis was being ridiculous. He’d be  _ lucky _ if he got a first kiss, much less any others after. And technically they’d already had their first at New Year’s, but that didn’t really count, did it?

“Yoo hooooo,” Niall sang as Zayn flicked a pick that landed in Harry’s curls.

“Oh, there they are,” Liam said with a laugh. “Wasn’t sure you could actually hear us inside your bubble.”

Louis bit his lip, his cheeks burning. He and Harry really had just been sitting there, wrapped around each other, staring at one another in silence. How creepy of them. At least Harry looked a little embarrassed but unrepentant.

This time, when Louis stood up, Harry let him go and it absolutely did not fill him with disappointment. It didn’t.

Clearing his throat, Louis turned around and clapped his hands. “Alright, well, let’s get going, then, shall we?”

*~~***~~*

“I really like how you celebrate the holidays.”

When he heard Harry’s voice, Louis looked up from the paperwork he was studying. He’d started falling asleep trying to go through all of the numbers in his office, so he had decided to move to the kitchen table where he hoped that Harry pottering around in the kitchen would be enough to keep him awake.

“What do you mean?” Louis asked. “I just basically throw a party every holiday I choose to recognize.”

“No, I mean the music and stuff that you choose. It’s like you take an aspect of the holiday that everyone can appreciate, whether they’re religious or not, and you really lean into it. It’s a fun angle that I don’t think I would have thought of.”

Louis shrugged. “It all came about because when I suggested the inn idea, Liam asked if there were any songs about President’s Day and I didn’t know what to tell him. Niall started singing Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours and I realized that songs that were used for presidential campaigns would be a fun way to stay on theme but still work with the kind of thing I had in mind. So we just started taking that and applying it for the rest of the holidays, too. It was a group effort, really.”

Harry hummed but didn’t really say anything else, so Louis went back to crunching numbers. When Harry got whatever it was he was making into the oven, he came towards the table and watched Louis until he stopped and looked up.

“Can I help you?” Louis asked, arching a brow.

“I still haven’t seen the studio.”

“Really?” Louis took his glasses off and looked at Harry in surprise. “You’ve been here for almost a week. I figured you’d have gone to see it by now.”

Harry shrugged. “You hadn’t offered to show me. With how excited you were about it and everything else, I thought you’d want me to wait until you could give me the full tour, so to speak.”

“Oh,” Louis said, sounding dumb. He leaned back against his chair. He had, but he didn’t realize that Harry had noticed. He’d gotten busy and distracted with everything that always happened the week of a holiday, and he figured Harry probably hadn’t bothered to wait. It made his tummy flip a little to think Harry had  _ wanted _ to wait.

“Yeah,” Harry said, tilting his head. “Think you might wanna show me now? Or, you know, when you’ve got a moment? It looks like you’re busy with important stuff.”

Louis laughed and checked the time. “It’s almost one in the morning. I should have stopped hours ago, but didn’t realize it was that late. I thought I was just tired from staring at everything and the stress of getting it all finalized.” 

Shaking his head, Louis scrubbed at his eyes and realized he really was incredibly tired, so the rest of it could be handled in the morning. He should easily be able to finish the last little bit as the rest of the employees came to get everything ready to go for that night. And besides, he really did want to show Harry the studio himself.

Standing up from the table, Louis nodded towards the hall. “Come on. Let’s do it now while there’s less chance of interruptions.”

One of the few requirements that Louis had for any property he bought was the possibility to take some of the space to turn into a studio if he decided he wanted to. He’d hired an engineer to look at the farmhouse before he even stepped foot in the house to be sure it would be possible. And it was. With his previous houses, he’d never had the time to look into making that particular dream come true, but now he could.

The lower level of the farmhouse was originally built with several fairly spacious rooms, but Louis didn’t have much use for most of them. The smallest easily became his office and of course he had the living room and then the kitchen and dining space, but the rest were left mostly unused once the renovations around the property were done. As soon as Louis was sure he didn’t need them for anything after the first few successful shows, he knew it was time to do the renovation.

Harry had seen it before and he’d seen it during construction, but Louis had been careful to not send him anything that would give him a good idea of the full space now. 

“Ready?” Louis asked, wagging his eyes.

“Yeah,” Harry said, bouncing on his toes. “I’m so excited, Lou. Seriously.”

Without saying anything else, Louis opened the door beside him and flipped on the light.

“Oh wow,” Harry said as he walked in.

“Yeah,” Louis said, walking in and folding his arms. 

The space emanated calm. On one side of the glass there was gleaming wood and sleek lines speaking to modernity and open space. It was dark and soothing, but with soft colors present as accents as well. The recording space through the door had similar colors, but the space had paneling on all the walls and the ceiling to help contain the purity of sound picked up by the microphones that would be installed in the next week or so. Louis’ imagination filled in the rest of the space automatically, but he realized that Harry didn’t know the plans like Louis did.

“So this is obviously where the entire panel is going to go,” Louis explained before stepping forward and pointing out where everything else would be situated.

“You’ve thought a lot about this,” Harry said as he continued to study the space.

“I have,” Louis said, nodding. “It’s something I’ve wanted for years now, so I’ve been imagining and reimagining the space I wanted ever since then, dreaming and planning and taking my favorite aspects of the recording spaces we visited over our time recording our albums. I’m really proud of how it’s come together.”

“You should be,” Harry said, walking over to the curtains over the windows. 

They were long with a soothing print and had a second light blocking panel should he need it. Louis loved them. 

“I really love these, too. The blue in them is almost exactly the same color as your eyes.”

Louis froze. “Is it?”

What Harry didn’t know was that one of the reasons Louis liked those curtains so much was that the green in them reminded him of  _ Harry’s _ eyes. He never even considered the shade of blue. The fact it matched his own was quite the coincidence.

“Yeah,” Harry said smiling softly before glancing up at Louis. “It’s one of my favorite colors.”

Louis’ cheeks burned but he knew he was smiling like a fool. He considered whether he should admit to the reason he’d chosen that particular color option in the design he loved so much, when Harry yawned deeply.

“Shit, sorry,” Harry said through another yawn. “Should probably get to bed, though. The cookies are probably ready to come out anyway.”

“Yeah, probably,” Louis agreed. 

They made their way upstairs after Harry had placed the cookies on a cooling rack, and when they got to Harry’s bedroom door he stopped and turned to Louis.

“Sleep well,” Harry said.

Louis smiled and did what he’d been thinking about for months now. He leaned up and pressed a soft kiss right where Harry’s dimple would appear on his cheek.

“You too, Harry.”

*~~***~~*

Two days later when Harry was leaving to head back to Nashville, it was Harry who leaned in. 

His kiss wasn’t just to Louis’ cheek, though. It was pressed against his lips. It was short and chaste and just enough to change  _ everything _ for Louis.


	13. Memorial Day 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're halfway! can you believe??? 
> 
> (that also means to buckle up, things are picking up and it's about to get a little rocky around here after this chapter...)

Louis felt stupid and young, but the month that Louis and Harry had apart from each other felt ridiculously long. For someone who was used to being away from family and friends for a long time during tours, he didn’t think it would be a big deal, but it was.

As soon as Harry arrived, he and Louis were basically inseparable. Nothing huge happened or changed with them, but there were a lot more lingering touches and even a few times where they chanced holding hands, but it never lasted for long. Both seemed to be a little shy about showing that kind of physical affection in front of Liam, Zayn, and Niall, who were all constantly around.

Which was fine. Honestly. Louis really needed to be sure that he wasn’t distracted by Harry too much anyway, because there was still a lot coming together for the Memorial Day show that night. 

Show days were always busy, but Louis wanted to try something new for Memorial Day. Since the weather was a bit nicer now, he decided to get a temporary stage set up beside the performance barn. Their shows always sold out so quickly and he wanted to do what he could to allow as many people as possible to come. If they did perform outside, they’d be able to offer double or triple the amount of tickets. He needed to arrange for festival styled parking and amenities, but for one or two days he didn’t figure it would be too bad.

He also hadn’t expected fans to show up as early as they had to try to ensure they had a good view. Things weren’t fully set up, so he had to start a makeshift line for everyone to get in as he called his security company about starting a couple hours earlier than anticipated and then he got the other guys to help him make sure that everything for the outdoor performance space was ready.

To say the least, they were lucky it had gone as well as it had so far, but different things kept cropping up that needed his attention. Finally, it got to the point where he had to tell Jenna she was in charge and to act in his stead for an hour so he could have long enough to do the sound check with the guys. Normally he’d let them get on with it themselves, but it was their first time playing outdoors and he wanted to be sure they were ready for anything.

It was a little dodgy, but incredibly helpful considering they learned that things weren’t entirely connected the way they needed to be. It ended with one of the contracted stage hands working for around thirty minutes while they did what they could without power to Zayn’s equipment until it suddenly screeched loudly with feedback and they were in business. Stressful, but necessary.

As soon as Louis left the stage he had a number of small fires to put out and only got to rest when it was time to get ready for the show. Granted, he should have already been on stage, but he hoped the larger than usual audience would grant him those fifteen minutes. 

Due to the lack of time, he opted for just putting on a ratty Old Navy tank top and reapplying deodorant before rushing back out to the stage where the others were already waiting for him. He figured it was hot enough outside despite still being late May, he’d definitely sweat through anything nicer he put on anyway.

Things went wonderfully during the show, all five of them could feel the extra energy from having so many more people there. When they jumped off the stage, ready to dance and party with everyone who had come out for another couple of hours as Liam continued the tradition of mixing music for them as the night went on, Louis was once again pulled away.

Apparently the biggest issue was that the karaoke equipment, which they’d set up inside the barn as another activity for people to participate in during the afterparty, wasn’t fully online yet.

Louis immediately went to work and by the time the karaoke equipment was good to go and that party had started, there were issues with some bottles of liquor missing while housekeeping was also experiencing some problems, and so on. Louis’ staff was amazing at doing the best they could without him, but there were a few more times he needed to be pulled away because it was the first time they had a crowd like this and an outdoor performance, he felt it actually was going fairly well. Nothing was bad enough for most of the fans to notice anything amiss, and that was what he was most concerned about at the end of the day.

Finally, it was almost midnight and after running around like a chicken with his head cut off for something like sixteen hours, Louis didn’t have five people pressing on him for help. Over half of the fans who had come for the show had already left, and he needed a strong drink as a reward for everything he’d done that day.

“Oh my god, it’s Louis Tomlinson and he’s not running off somewhere else,” Harry teased, coming up beside where Louis was leaning against the bar in the performance barn. 

They had basic bottles of beer and set ups for the more popular mixed drinks outside, but he wanted something strong and fruity which required the full bar.

“You have no idea,” Louis said, leaning his head on Harry’s shoulder. “I’m so fucking exhausted, I think I could sleep for eight years.”

The bartender slid his drink over and he said an emphatic, “Thank you,” before taking a long swig. It burned a bit as it went down, but it was soothed with the tart strawberries and sweet sugar. It was exactly what he needed.

“Well you can sleep as soon as I’m done with you,” Harry said, gripping Louis’ elbow and starting to drag him towards the stage.

“What are you doing?” Louis asked, watching the four men who were taking their bows after singing an NSYNC song fairly horribly. They did it with gusto, though, so Louis was pleased they were having fun.

“You’ll see.”

He hated it when Harry didn’t explain anything and let Louis watch it all unfold.

“And next up is Harry Styles,” Clara said, smiling brightly in their direction.

Louis blinked and turned towards Harry only to see that he wasn’t beside him anymore. He was already walking across the stage.

“This is going to be a duet actually,” Harry said, adjusting the mic stand and waving at Louis. “Come on up, Lou.”

Louis’ jaw dropped. “This is my shindig, Harry. It’s everyone else’s turn to perform now. I’ve already had my fun.”

Harry shook his head and held out his hand. “We all want to hear you sing just one more, though.” 

“No thanks, you go ahead,” Louis yelled, waving at him.

“Louuuuu,” Harry sang, both arms outstretched from him. “I really want you up here, and I bet all of them do too. Come on, please?”

The small crowd of people who were in there with them started pleading with him as well and Louis glared at Harry. He definitely did that on purpose so Louis couldn’t just beg out of it and leave.

He held up his hands in surrender and went up on stage to join Harry. Taking the mic he was holding out, Louis said, “What if I don’t know the song?”

“Oh, you definitely know the song,” Harry said with a smile as Clara started the track and Louis heard the first chords of White Christmas. “It’s the first song we ever sang together.”

Louis looked at Harry exasperated. “Christmas songs in May, Harold?”

Harry just gave him a cheeky smile and started to sing, nodding to Louis when it was his turn. Louis shook his head, but played along and by the end, he couldn’t help but just watch Harry. He was ignoring everyone in the audience, but he didn’t even care. He sang his heart out and enjoyed the way their voices harmonized with just the piano in the background.

When it ended they took their bows and climbed down.

It felt like a second show had ended with the way everyone rushed to tell them how great they were, only calming down when the next person took the stage for their turn to sing.

“Thanks for doing that with me,” Harry said into Louis’ ear before nuzzling into his neck a bit. 

Louis was disgusting after working so hard and sweating like crazy all day. He was actually quite embarrassed to have Harry so close, witnessing him like that, but he also didn’t want him to go anywhere, so he let him stay.

“Of course,” Louis said back, wrapping his arm around Harry’s waist. 

Harry felt so solid beside Louis, like he belonged there. He and Greg never fit quite that way, but he was so used to it he never thought about it. Now that he had Harry beside him, he realized that he and Harry fit together almost like puzzle pieces. They weren’t the same, but they complimented each other and were comfortable that way. It was nice.

They made their way outside and headed to the farmhouse.

“Wanna sit on the porch swing on my balcony?” Louis asked. He really wanted to stay up and actually enjoy some of the night. Plus, from up there they’d have some quiet and space to themselves but still be able to hear and see the fun and dancing that was still going on at the outdoor stage.

“Yeah, sounds great,” Harry said, pulling away just enough so he could wrap his arm around Louis’ shoulders and pull him back in tightly.

They walked in silence and eventually made their way up to Louis’ room before walking out to the balcony and cuddling up close on the swing. They found a nice rhythm that worked for them and Louis ended up curled up, tucked into Harry’s side while Harry eased the swing back and forth in silence.

“I think of you every time I hear that song now,” Harry said after a few minutes.

“What, that old Paloma Faith number Liam remixed?” Louis asked, chuckling. That wasn’t really a song he would ever expect anyone to hear and think of him, but he supposed there were stranger things.

“No,” Harry said, chuckling and making Louis bounce a little with the movement. “White Christmas.”

“Oh,” Louis said, smiling. Then he paused, confused. “Wait, how much do you listen to Christmas music outside of Christmastime?”

Harry didn’t say anything, but Louis could feel him stiffen a little.

Sitting up a little, Louis looked over at Harry’s face where his cheeks were pink even in the darkness. “Harold, you said every time you hear the song,” Louis said, making sure to speak slowly. He couldn’t keep his fond tone from slipping into it, though. “Why are you listening to White Christmas at all these days?”

Harry huffed a sigh. “I’ve got a playlist of all the songs we’ve played for these shows, if you must know,” he admitted, reaching out and pulling Louis back into his side so he couldn’t see Harry clearly anymore because he was too close. “It’s what I listen to when I’m feeling discouraged or having a hard time.”

Louis shifted a little, pressing in closer to Harry but in a way that he could now stretch up and kiss Harry’s cheek softly before tucking himself back into his side.

“That’s really sweet, but I’m sorry you’ve been having so many hard times that you listen to that song a lot.”

Harry gave a small shrug. “It’s alright. I haven’t been recently. Things are looking up, actually.”

“Yeah?” Louis asked, turning his head to press another kiss into Harry’s chest. “I’m glad they are. I know it’s what you want.”

Harry stayed quiet at that, and they continued, observing the party from their quiet perch over the next hour or so as it slowly wound down.

“I really need to get to sleep, but this is so perfect I don’t want to go,” Harry admitted.

Louis had to blink himself back to full alertness. He’d started dozing and hadn’t even noticed because he was so comfortable wrapped up with Harry.

“What if we just moved it inside?” Louis said with a yawn. “Not for anything more, just so we can keep cuddling.” 

Louis’ heart was starting to race and he was quickly waking up more than he’d wanted to for as late as it was. He didn’t just invite people back to his bed, and it was never casually. It was a really big deal for him to ask Harry to join him, and he hadn’t even thought twice about it. He just knew he wanted Harry close. They’d only passed by each other quickly for most of the day, and with Harry leaving in the morning Louis wanted to be able to soak up as much of his presence as he could. He just didn’t want Harry to get the wrong impression and—

“Okay, but if we spoon, do you think I could be the little spoon?”

Louis chuckled, his heart slowing back to normal with his question. He’d never even had a chance at being the big spoon with Greg. It truly was physically impossible. He would  _ love _ that chance now.

“Sure, H,” Louis said before slowly stretching out his legs and standing up. Taking Harry’s hand in his, Louis helped him up and they walked inside together. 

Harry went back to his room to wash up and get into pajamas, but soon enough they were back in Louis’ room, turning off the light and settling in beside each other. It was awkward for maybe half a second as they figured out which side they would each take, but as soon as it came to finding a good position for them to choose first, it was entirely natural.

Louis was already starting to doze off after mere minutes. He was never able to fall asleep that quickly.

As he listened to Harry’s steady breathing and the rhythm of his heart, Louis knew he was in deep. He wasn’t going to be able to put off talking to Harry about it for much longer, either. It was a conversation he knew would either scare Harry away, or opening up like that and showing Harry all of his broken bits that were still left behind after Greg would only make them closer.

He prayed it would be the latter.


	14. Independence Day 2025

Louis had been… tense. Jumpy.  _ Concerned. _

It made sense and he was well justified. After all, the Memorial Day show hadn’t exactly gone off perfectly and, sure, they had learned a lot and made sure to prepare for this show accordingly, but he was still just waiting for it all to implode.

It hadn’t been  _ that _ bad last time, but he’d been so tired he’d slept through Harry’s alarms and woken up the next day with a cutting of lilacs on the pillow beside him and a text on his phone instead of a curly haired boy. And even  _ that _ hadn’t been enough sleep. A week later he finally started feeling back to his normal self and was ready to start planning for the next show.

When Louis came back to the house after a run into town a few days before the guys were expected to show up to find all of them had come out early, he’d been so pleased. They had helped him so much by distracting him from the spiraling thoughts that were quickly taking over.

It only helped so much, though, when one of the people distracting him from his anxiety was actually the cause of so much of it himself. 

Louis knew he needed to talk to Harry about his past while he was able to in person. It wasn’t a conversation he was comfortable having over the phone or even FaceTime. It was going to be hard enough to say everything he needed to—explain what happened with Greg and how he still hadn’t picked up all of the pieces—with Harry in the same room where he could hopefully be comforted as he spilled out the whole sad story. The issue was that such a heavy conversation would take time and emotional bandwidth he didn’t really have when he was so busy worrying about the show as well.

Harry was planning to stay a day or two after the show this time, at least. Louis was relying on that time. He could relax after the show, and as soon as the others had left and they were sure to be alone and not interrupted, he would talk to him. It would be perfect and hopefully Harry wouldn’t be too scared to take the next step and try seeing Louis officially. 

So yes, Louis felt he had every right to be wound a bit tight.

“Look how well it’s all going,” Harry said, squeezing Louis’ shoulder as the band was announced by Clara. “You did so well making sure to plan for everything you knew could happen this time, and it’s been almost perfect so far.”

Louis nodded. He knew Harry was right. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was going to be some sort of disaster he would have to clean up before the end of the night. Then again, as long as they didn’t have the issues with the porta potties like they had last time, he’d be fine. 

The crowd cheered and they took the stage, immediately kicking things off with a cover of the Switchfoot song Politicians and then going right into R.O.C.K. in the USA. Louis was laughing while Harry and Niall tried to outdo each other with various classic rock song related puns when he caught sight of a face he never expected to see at one of their shows. 

Nick was standing in the audience, a few rows back just off to the side, smiling widely with his eyes fixated on Harry.

No. Louis felt like he had tunnel vision in that moment as fear and anger twisted together within him and all he could think was  _ Nick needs to stay away from Harry. _

The opening chords for Firework kicked off and made Louis jump, but he was able to find his place and join in easily enough. He couldn’t help it, though. He kept glancing over at Nick who didn’t seem to give a shit that his former best friend was on stage when he could watch Harry’s every move. 

As if stealing Greg from right beneath Louis’ nose wasn’t good enough for him or something. 

Louis tried to ignore him, especially when it became clear exactly how much alcohol Nick was consuming and the fact that it looked like he was constantly swiping tears away from his eyes. Louis didn’t know what Nick had to be crying about, much less why he was crying about it  _ here, _ but it didn’t matter. Louis had a show to perform and an almost-boyfriend to keep away from him.

“Is that DJ Grimmy?” Harry yelled into Louis’ ear as they strummed their guitars and let Niall sing for a bit. 

Louis glanced at Harry and saw the awe on his face. Fucking great. 

“Yeah,” Louis said shortly. 

Apparently that one syllable had been filled with enough of Louis’ feelings about the situation that Harry could pick up on it because he looked at Louis with his brows furrowed as he made his way back to his mic to harmonize with Niall during the last chorus.

Louis rolled his eyes at himself and tried to shove it all down. He didn’t want his anger to come out in their performance. Everyone who had come out tonight deserved better than that. Well, everyone other than Nick did.

They took their bows and headed off the stage, allowing the crew to transition it to Liam’s DJ equipment. Louis had thought that he’d covered up his various frustrations pretty well, but he could tell that Zayn was about to say something when all four of his bandmates looked at something over his shoulder and their eyes widened.

Only one seemed to widen with excitement.

“DJ Grimmy,” Harry said, rushing past Louis with his hand outstretched. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

Louis grimaced and looked at the other three who knew more than Harry did, but nothing close to the full story. They were all watching Louis with concern, which was fair.

“And you,” Nick slurred. “You were wonderful, really, absolutely gorgeous too!”

And that was more than enough.

“What are you even doing here, Nick?” Louis practically spit out as he turned to Nick.

Harry looked at him with alarm and disappointment in his eyes, but he didn’t have a fucking clue about what was actually going on between them. Louis would fill him in later, now really was  _ not _ the time. He needed to figure out why the hell Nick had shown up when he was very much unwelcome and get him back to wherever it was that he and Greg had been living for the last couple of years.

When Louis finally looked at Nick, his eyes were filled with tears and his mouth was covered with both of his hands.

“Oh my god,” Louis groaned. “You’re so fucking emotional when you’re drunk. Couldn’t you have held off on the alcohol until we’d spoken? It’s going to take you hours to get the whole fucking story out at this rate.”

“I’m sorry,” Nick said, starting to full on cry and before he also began to wheeze.

Harry’s eyes went wide and he turned towards Nick. “Are you asthmatic?” he asked.

“He is,” Louis said, tone flat. “Don’t worry, he’s always got his inhaler. This happens more than you’d think.”

“Why aren’t you helping?” Harry asked, trying to help Nick stay standing while he dug around inside one of his oversized bags he had hanging across his body.

“Because, he’ll be fine. I promise you, I’ve seen him much worse. Crying always makes him need a puff, though,” Louis explained as he stood with his arms crossed over his guitar.

Eventually, Harry and Nick got his inhaler out and soon enough Nick’s breathing had eased.

“Stop being a total dick and help him to the farmhouse,” Harry hissed. “I’ll take care of everything here and make sure Clara is good in the barn. You take care of him before anyone else sees the state of him.”

“Oh, I’m sure there’s already Insta stories out there of him in the audience like this,” Louis said, eyes rolling. “It’s fine. They’ll be scrubbed as best as they can be by tomorrow.”

Harry yanked Louis far enough away that Nick wouldn’t overhear them and there weren’t any other workers nearby either.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Harry spat. “He’s your best friend.”

Louis shook his head and yanked his arm from Harry’s grip. “He is nowhere  _ close _ to being my best friend. You have no idea what he’s done.”

“I know he’s clearly not doing well right now and needs some sympathy and a listening ear,” Harry argued back. “He came to you for a reason, Louis, so be a fucking decent human being and help him.”

Louis closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Fine. But I swear, we really need to talk and sooner rather than later. I know you agreed when I said we have a lot to talk about, but you don’t even... he’s part of it, okay? Just believe me when I say that he’s not someone to be close to. Please promise me you’ll keep away from him.”

Harry sighed. “I really don’t think he’s as bad as all that.”

“Please,” Louis pleaded. 

He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose the only other person he’s cared for like he did Greg to Nick. Again. He had enough to be insecure about after the first time, he wasn’t sure he could get past it again. Clearly Nick had something that Louis was lacking and he had no idea what it was or how to remedy it. 

Harry studied his eyes and finally nodded. “Fine. I’ll keep my distance, but only if you aren’t a total twat, okay? For fuck’s sake, Louis. No one deserves to be treated the way you just did him.  _ Especially _ a friend.”

“I told you, he is  _ not _ my friend. Not anymore,” Louis growled.

“Whatever. Go, take care of him. We’ll talk more about it later.”

Harry spun around and stalked off towards the performance barn and when Louis turned around, Liam was on stage and Zayn and Niall were both gone. Only Nick remained, and he was leaning against one of the legs of the stage, still sniffling.

“Fucking disaster,” Louis muttered before he marched back to Nick. “Come on, you idiot.”

“He’s gone,” Nick kept whining through his tears. 

Louis refused to ask him any questions until they’d arrived back at the farmhouse. He let Nick slur into his shoulder as they made their way the long way around. Louis wanted to be sure to avoid anywhere that fans or even staff could possibly be. It was worth it, though, because by the time they arrived at the farmhouse, Nick wasn’t sober but he wasn’t slurring all of his words, either.

Louis refused to take Nick upstairs where the bedrooms were, but they did need privacy, so Louis took him to his office. As soon as the door was closed behind them, Louis sat Nick down in the only other chair he had in the room outside of his ownand immediately got down to business.

“Alright, now why are you here, Nick?” Louis asked, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “I didn’t invite you. We haven’t spoken in two and a half years.”

“He left me,” Nick said. He was pouting which made his naturally long face look even more narrow and long. He was still attractive, even drunk with eyes that were red and puffy from crying, and Louis wanted to punch him for it.

“Yes you keep saying that,” Louis sighed as he leaned against his desk. “Who left you?”

“Greg.”

Louis stopped short. “Wait, what? Really?”

Nick nodded. 

“The fuck?” Louis said, shaking his head. “So why did you come to me? He’s not here, if that’s what you were hoping.”

“No, I know he’s not,” Nick said, sniffling again. He clearly wasn’t done crying. Louis just hoped he wouldn’t need his inhaler again. “I just… when he left I was so heartbroken I couldn’t even put it into words. I loved him so much!”

By the end of his excuse Louis just wanted to get more information, but Nick was wailing and clearly taking some more time to sob. Louis got it, really he did, but he just wanted Nick to get on with the story. 

Instead of saying anything though, Louis picked up the box of tissues he kept at his desk and held them out for Nick.

“Thanks,” he said through his tears, taking the whole box and setting it on his lap. “So that’s why I’m here.”

Louis blinked at Nick. “That doesn’t make any fucking sense, man.”

“Yes it does,” Nick argued before making a honking noise as he blew his nose. “You know what it’s like. You loved him and he left you without any warning too!”

“Oh don’t you fucking dare,” Louis seethed. “We were  _ engaged, _ Nicholas, and for almost as long as the two of you were together. We dated for the eight years prior to that, so please do  _ not _ compare our ten years together to your two year fling or whatever it was before he moved on to the next pretty thing he came across.”

“He said he’d fallen in love with Jordan,” Nick cried into some tissues. “Jordan North, the radio guy from England.”

Louis scrunched up his nose. He wasn’t sure he even knew who Jordan was. “Do I know him?”

Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s so great, though. In a way I’m kind of jealous that Greg went off with him instead of me.”

“I literally do not understand any of you,” Louis said in shock as he scrubbed his hand against his face. “How in the world did I find a way to surround myself with the craziest assholes for so long without realizing?” 

“I kind of wonder if Greg’s poly, you know?” Nick said, blowing his nose again. “He falls in love so easily and so fully. He has so much love to give. And we talked about you, so much. He still loves you, you know? He loved both of us at the same time. And now he loves Jordan too.” Nick sighed. “I just wish he would have  _ talked _ to me.”

“Oh, fucking nice of you to say that to me, of all people,” Louis snipped. 

“Louis—”

“No,” Louis interrupted, standing up and holding his hand out for extra emphasis. “Nick, I get why your dumbass brain put two and two together and got twelve, I do. But I absolutely, one hundred percent do. Not. Want. You. Here. I am finally starting to get past all of the shit from before and move on! And I  _ cannot _ trust you. Not with myself, and  _ definitely _ not with Harry. I saw you eyeing him up, and I will not let him be your next victim.”

“His voice, though, Lou,” Nick said, his eyes glazing over as he clutched his chest and a dopey smile that covered his stupid face. “Oh my god, it was practically orgasmic.”

Louis grimaced at the description and shook his head. “Don’t you dare ever say anything like that ever again. But also you lost the right to call me Lou. Only my friends call me that, and we are no longer friends. I’m going to call you a car. I want you gone.”

“Louis, what the fuck,” Harry said angrily as he barged into the room. “I told you not to be a fucking twat!”

“I’m not being a twat, I’m calling him a fucking car!” Shaking his head, Louis gripped his hair and pulled on it a bit while he let out a little frustrated growl. “Why the fuck are you even taking his side, anyway? You know nothing about the situation!”

“I know enough,” Harry said, jabbing his finger into Louis’ chest. His eyes were blazing brightly and it was the most upset Louis had ever seen him. “From the moment he showed up here tonight you have been acting like a child who just got his favorite toy taken away from him. You couldn’t even treat your friend with basic respect and you’ve demeaned him constantly.”

“He is not my fucking friend. My god, the both of you need to get that through your heads!” Louis yelled. “Why does no one seem to give a flying shit about my feelings and everything that I’ve been through? I was the fucking  _ victim, _ why is everyone acting like I’m the bad guy?”

“Because you’re acting like it,” Harry cried, his waving about like Louis needed to step aside and observe what was happening in the room. 

“I was only trying to protect myself, but also you,” Louis argued. “Nick can’t be trusted.”

Harry held his arms out. “Who said I needed protecting, Louis? Who? Cause I didn’t. I can fend for myself. I don’t need you doing it in my stead, especially if, when things go wrong, this is the person you turn into.”

“That’s rich,” Louis said, shaking his head. “I’m serious, H. He’s no good. I’m speaking from experience.”

“Well then trust me to find it out for myself and make my own decision! God!” Harry turned to Nick. “I can take you to your hotel. Where are you staying?”

“I don’t have anyplace lined up,” Nick admitted.

Louis laughed sardonically. “Of course you don’t.”

Harry glared over his shoulder before turning back to Nick. “Fine. Everywhere around here is going to be booked already, but you can take my bed for the night. You’re probably exhausted.”

Nick nodded. “Thank you.”

“Sure.” Turning to Louis, Harry said, “Don’t say a word. I’ll be back shortly to finish talking to you.”

Louis made a mock salute. “Yes, sir.”

Harry rolled his eyes before walking Nick out of Louis’ office, leaving him alone to stew. It wasn’t for long, though. Harry was true to his word and didn’t take much time getting Nick settled.

“Louis, what is going on with you?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest. “I don’t want to fight, and I am seriously asking. You’ve been wound so tight all week and I thought it was just about the show, but as the day went on and things were going smoothly I could tell there was something else. I just cannot for the life of me figure out what it is. And then Grimmy showed up and you treated him like he was some sort of monster, and that isn’t you. Not at all.”

Louis shook his head, whispering, “He ruined everything.”

“How?” Harry asked, eyes wide. “Explain to me how he ruined  _ anything.” _

Louis bit his lip and studied Harry’s face. 

He was  _ so _ close to spitting out everything. How Nick threw away a lifetime of friendship between them and now wanted Louis to be that friend again, wanting Louis to pick him up and dust him off because the man he’d basically stolen from Louis had been stolen from him now too. Explain that Louis was  _ terrified _ that Nick was going to take Harry away from him now, because he’d seen it in Nick’s eyes. The look that meant he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Louis had seen it so many times, and it was directed at Harry tonight. He knew deep down that Greg also played a large role in that whole situation, but it didn’t stop the fear coursing through him saying it could happen again. 

But how was he supposed to explain it? How could he possibly put into words all of the numerous ways he had been betrayed by those who were closest to him? His fiance, his best friend, his bandmates? He’d known all of them for decades! And they made sure to show Louis that loyalty didn’t stand for shit. People were only loyal until they decided they weren’t. Louis liked to think that Harry wasn’t like that, but they’d only known each other for less than a year, so why would Harry be any different? He already chose Nick over Louis earlier when he got angry because of how Louis was treating Nick, so really it felt like he’d already made his decision.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Louis said, scrubbing his chest as if that would help ease the pain of his heart breaking all over again. It was fine. It was barely taped together before tonight as it was. “I was going to tell you. All of this? What happened with me and Nick? That was part of what I wanted to talk to you about, but this isn’t how I want you to find out. You’re angry and I’m tired and I just don’t think we should do this tonight.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

Louis let his hands drop. “Of course I do,” he said, but then he paused. “But I’ve trusted a lot of people, including that sad little piece of shit upstairs, and nearly every single one has broken that trust.”

“And you just assume I’m like them?” Harry asked, his face emotionless. “You actually believe that whatever it is that everyone has done to hurt you is going to be repeated by anyone else you choose to trust in the future?”

Louis stood up from where he’d been leaning against his desk and shook his head. “We can agree on one thing. I also don’t want to fight with you tonight. I’m still pretty fucking pissed about Nick showing up and everything that’s happened since then, so I’m just going to go to bed before we both say things we don’t mean.”

Harry snorted. “What makes you think I wouldn’t mean what I would say?”

“Harry, come on. Not tonight.”

“Sure,” Harry said. “But if you don’t talk to me tonight and explain what the fuck is going on with you, I won’t be here in the morning.”

Louis froze. “What?”

Shrugging, Harry said, “I feel like I’ve been pretty patient with you. I thought we were starting to get really close and maybe had a chance at having something that would really go somewhere. But you’ve basically told me you trust me, but not really, and then refused to explain  _ anything _ about the situation and your past with Nick. If you can only trust me so much and if you can’t even bother to explain to me why, then I see no reason to stick around.”

Louis shook his head. “I’m not dealing with this right now. Goodnight, Harry.”

“Bye, Louis.”

The next morning, Harry was gone just like he said he would be. Nick was still around, though not for long. Niall, god bless him, made sure of that.

Louis stayed in his room and went back to sleep once he knew Nick was taken care of, waking up around dinnertime to find himself alone. It wasn’t serene like it was before, but that was probably because once again Louis was left picking up the pieces in a situation that felt all too familiar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just need everyone to know that I love Grimmy AND Greg with my full and whole heart. lol This is from Louis' POV and with this story, he is naturally going to feel like Nick especially is the villain considering what was done, but I really thought out Greg and Grimmy's characters and wanted you to know that the reason they behave the way they do is because a: Greg is super confused and completely NOT understanding of himself, part of which Nick references in this chapter, and that is why he ends up hurting so many people unintentionally and b: Grimmy really just... doesn't think before he acts and when he DOES think, he's a bit of a selfish bastard who doesn't consider how his actions affect others. Which... makes him not the NICEST person, but also he really doesn't have bad intentions ever. He's just a dumbass. 
> 
> And that's all, thank you for your time, please don't hate me after this chapter i love you very much a lot lollll


	15. July/August 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I told you lately that I love you? hehe xx

It was funny. Not funny as in laugh out loud, but funny as in “Wow, that’s fucking ironic, I’m going to laugh so I don’t cry” funny.

Okay. Maybe it wasn’t funny at all.

Back when Greg left him, Louis made sure that everyone on his, Greg, and Nick’s teams all knew that the details were not to be discussed and wouldn’t be made public. There would be no sob story coming from him, but in return he didn’t want anyone to know about Greg and Nick for awhile either.

See, back then he thought it would save him a lot of grief. Should the time come that he wanted to enter the limelight again, he wouldn’t have to answer a ton of questions about his ex-fiance running off with his used-to-be best friend on his birthday the night before their scheduled wedding. In return, Greg and Nick wouldn’t have to try to salvage their own reputations, there wouldn’t be any talk of cheating, etc etc etc. It seemed perfect.

Louis never in his wildest dreams imagined he wouldhave to explain to a future lover that the reason he was being a bitch to his no-longer-best, only-kind-of-a-friend, was because he’d made Louis’ fiance fall in love with him right under Louis’ own nose. 

Well. That, and Louis was scared it might happen again.

He knew he should explain all of that to Harry. Fill in the numerous blanks.

But he was just so incredibly mad. He and Harry hadn’t known each other for very long, sure, but he thought that Harry knew him well enough by now to know that Louis wasn’t going to be a dick to just anyone. Instead Harry had assumed the worst until proven otherwise, and when pushed into a corner like that, Louis didn’t  _ want _ to prove otherwise.

It was one of his worst personality traits. Louis hated it about himself, actually. It didn’t matter if he was already planning on doing something, as soon as someone tried to push him into doing it, he pulled back. His mom always used to say he was as stubborn as a goat, and honestly it wasn’t a lie. 

Growing up, his mom had told him that she would actively try to push him in the opposite direction of what she wanted, she was that confident in the reverse psychology. Unfortunately Harry hadn’t learned that about him yet. Then again, Louis was also a grown man and should probably finally overcome that particular weakness of character, but alas. He hadn’t yet, and here he was. Adamantly  _ not _ wanting to tell Harry everything he had previously been prepared to.

What a disaster.

_ Zayn: Hey, might wanna check out Grimmy’s insta stories _

Louis didn’t want to. It had been two weeks and he was only starting to get past the worst of his anger over everything that had gone down on the Fourth of July. Louis laid down his phone and folded his arms petulantly. If it wasn’t so disgustingly hot outside, he’d go sit on his porch swing. Maybe grab the stash of weed he knew Niall had left in his room and try to numb the pain a little bit that way.

As it was, he was barely keeping himself cool on the lower level of the farmhouse, and that was with the central air going and all the lights turned out. July sucked.

_ Zayn: I know you’re ignoring me because you don’t want to do it, but I’m serious. You want to see this. _

Louis rolled his eyes and finally responded. 

_ Louis: Why were you looking at his stories anyway, I thought you didn’t follow him. _

_ Zayn: I don’t _ _   
_ _ Zayn: My sister does _ _   
_ __ Zayn: Just watch his fucking stories and stop bitching

Louis took a deep breath and laid down on his belly so he was sprawled on the large area rug in the living room in the hopes it was cooler there. He supposed he could do this one thing if Zayn was serious, but he was going to be comfortable.

Louis opened the app and found Nick’s stories. It was his usual, filled with ridiculous selfies in the car, pouting about how the new organic coffee place was out of his probiotic blend or whatever it was he was into at the moment. Louis watched, smiling against his will at Nick’s usual over the top humor and self deprecation. 

And then it was something different.

“Hiyaaaa,” Nick drawled out, pushing his sunglasses into his hair as he walked through some hallways of what appeared to be a studio if the gold and platinum records hanging on the walls meant anything. “I’m in the studio today. Been workshopping a song or two and I think I have found the perfect voice to feature on at least a couple tracks for my new album.”

Nick wagged his eyebrows and laughed, but Louis’ heart was racing. He knew where Nick was. As soon as he said he’d been songwriting, Louis saw the curtain in the background and he realized it was the studio where DOUBLE GAMMON had recorded most of their third album.

In Nashville.

“Have any guesses about who it might be?” Nick teased. “I’ll give you a few hints here soon. All I’m going to say is it’s a voice not many know right now, but ohhhhh you’re going to soon because he’s  _ incredible.  _ Back with some clues soon!”

An hour later ( at least according to the time stamp), Nick had posted a video where the camera was focused on the soundboard, but the voice singing in the background was one Louis knew very well. He dreamed about it most nights.

It was Harry. Nick had found him. Louis knew at that point he might as well give up. It was a lost cause. He’d already lost one man to Nick, it was only a matter of time before he lost Harry too.

At least Louis hadn’t bothered to go through the trouble of explaining everything that happened between the two of them. His heart felt like Harry had reached in and squeezed it until it was barely able to pump the blood through Louis’ body, but he could only imagine how much worse it could have been. It would have been too much for Louis to handle if he had gone through the pain of telling the story and being that vulnerable, and Harry had  _ still _ left him. He should be grateful.

*~~***~~*

Louis sat in the studio recording another guitar riff he’d had stuck in his head for weeks. It had been bothering him enough that he knew he had to get it down. Might as well put the studio to use.

He’d planned to offer it up to Harry so he could get some decent recordings of his solo stuff to hand out to people in Nashville, but with Nick working with him now he obviously didn’t need that. Besides, Louis didn’t think Harry would want his help anymore.

“That sounds nice, but what is it?”

Louis paused his strumming and looked up. Liam was standing in the doorway to the recording area, watching.

“Just something that’s been stuck in my head for a little bit, that’s all.” Louis said with a wan smile. 

He also furtively reached up to try to fix his baseball cap. He hadn’t been expecting anyone and may have put off showering a few too many days. He definitely didn’t want Liam to be able to tell.

Liam hummed before coming in and sitting down on the stool that was sitting beside the bongos Louis kept in there.

“So what brings you out here?” Louis asked. 

“You weren’t answering my calls.”

Louis scrunched up his nose. “I didn’t know you’d called.”

Liam arched his brow. “You would if you turned on your phone.”

Mouth open and ready to argue, Louis paused and then shut it carefully. He had turned his phone off on Sunday, expecting to only leave it off for a day or so, but now he didn’t even know what day it was.

“What day is it?” Louis asked, looking down at his guitar and messing with the A-string as if it needed tuning.

“Friday,” Liam answered. “August first.”

“Shit,” Louis cursed, scrubbing his forehead. “We were supposed to have the band Zoom yesterday to talk about potential angles for Labor Day and songs we could maybe use, right?”

He really hadn’t meant to miss it. He had been a little concerned about it, because Harry had been quiet in the band’s WhatsApp since Independence Day and Louis wasn’t really sure if they should even expect him to be there for the next show. That didn’t mean he was going to completely avoid the Zoom though and freeze everyone out. They still had a show to do and Louis was nothing if not a professional when it came to his music.

“Yeah,” Liam said. “We still held it without you and did some brainstorming, but we were all concerned about you and decided I should check up on you to make sure you were alright.”

“You’re a good man, Liam Payne,” Louis said, smiling at him. “It really was an accident. Lost track of my days and time and all that.”

“Been spending a lot of time in the studio, then?” Liam asked. “Getting some songwriting done, maybe for some solo stuff?”

Louis pursed his lips and shook his head. “Not really. Just bits and pieces here and there. I’m trying, it’s always been a good way for me to clear my head, but I’ve never done it alone before and I keep getting stuck. It’s harder than I thought without someone else there to get me out of my head when that happens.”

Liam tilted his head. “Maybe you and I could have a go at it.”

Louis smiled. “Yeah, that’d be great.”

“Great,” Liam said, clapping his hands and standing up. “We can start in the kitchen.”

Louis watched him stride out of not just the recording booth, but the entire studio, shocked.

“Why the kitchen?” he called, setting the guitar down and jogging to catch up with him.

“Because it’s obvious if you don’t even know what day it is that you need to eat,” Liam answered. Liam looked through the cupboards and the fridge before pausing. When he turned to Louis, his hands were on his hips. “Where’s all your food?”

Louis winced. “Its been awhile since I’ve been shopping.”

Liam shook his head. “Fuck, Louis. If I’d known you were this bad off I would have stopped by way before this. Okay, listen. You’re going to get in the shower, don’t fuss over it, alright? It’s fine. Just do it. You’ll feel better. So you’re going to shower and I’m going to make a quick run to the farmer’s market down the road. Mrs. Smith is there this week with all of the casseroles and fry pies she sells for the Amish. I’ll stock up on some of those as well as some fresh veggies.  _ Then _ I’ll start cooking and we can talk through some of the lyrics you’ve already got. Alright?”

“Thank you,” Louis said after a moment. “I just needed some time to process, you know?”

Liam sighed and forced Louis into a hug. “It’s fine, but I’m gonna force you to do better than you have been. Let’s work through what’s got you like this and get you back to the Louis I’ve come to love.”

Louis swatted at Liam’s shoulder until he let him go.

“Thanks, man,” Louis said, rubbing at his nose to cover up the fact that he was near crying.

“Sure. Now get upstairs and shower.”

Louis nodded and headed towards the staircase.

“Oh, and Louis?”

Louis paused and looked over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“Harry was on the call,” Liam said, eyes wide as he delivered the news. He always looked so young and like an eager puppy dog when he did that, but today it also made him seem that much more concerned. “He’s planning to still be here for Labor Day. He’s not sure about after that, but said he wouldn’t drop the band without letting us know.”

Louis took a deep breath. Well, that was good. It was nice to know one way or the other, at least, and honestly he was glad he’d get at least one more chance to see Harry.

“Thanks, Li.”

Liam nodded, then walked out the door.


	16. Labor Day 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Uh. If you know me and my fics, you probably know that I have tried to write angst in the past and was told it was cute and sweet lollll 
> 
> Apologies for this time around XD The angst tags have been added as I was advised to do last night. I really do promise a happy ending! 
> 
> Happy 16th chapter! xx

“Liam, are you sure you’re good with just the DJ set? With Maren getting sick, that means we have an extra slot available and I’m sure we could put on some canned tunes while you did a few songs inside the performance barn.”

Louis scrubbed at his scalp. The Labor Day show was tomorrow and they had gone all out. Louis may have overextended himself a little bit because he wanted the end of summer party to outdo even the beginning of summer festivities, but he had needed a distraction. His songwriting only went so far. He just hadn’t expected a performer to not show up and throw off the timing of things for him.

“I’m sure, Lou,” Liam said before clearing his throat. “Why don’t you do it?”

Louis looked up so quickly, he might have strained his neck. “What?”

He could feel Harry’s eyes on him. They’d barely spoken outside of the basics. They weren’t ignoring each other, and tension was high, but they were making sure things were still getting done and harmonizing together as well as ever.

That meant they still hadn’t caught up on what was happening in each other’s lives for about two months, though, and unlike Harry, updates on Louis’ life weren’t all over Instagram.

“You’ve got those songs we’ve been working on, and they’re really good. You should perform a few of them in Maren’s place,” Liam suggested.

“I…”

“Do it, Lou,” Zayn encouraged. “Niall and Harry both already have sets and I’m even doing a duet with Niall for one of his songs. You should show off some of your new stuff then. It’s the perfect time to show people you’re making music—your own original music, not just covers—again.”

“You’ve been songwriting?” Harry asked quietly.

Louis looked over at him and found Harry watching him, looking a little sad. “Yeah, mostly with Liam.”

Harry licked his lips and took in a breath, before closing his mouth again and swallowing. “Oh,” he finally said. “That’s cool.”

“I really think you’re ready,” Liam continued as if nothing had interrupted their conversation. “You could start with Just Like You, and then maybe go into Home _ , _ but I’m not sure where to go after that. You really do have a lot of options with everything we’ve been able to finish the past month.”

“I’m not really interested in actually performing solo, though,” Louis said slowly as he looked around and saw all four of them watching him with interest. “I’m just writing because it’s a good outlet for me.”

“It is, it’s a great outlet,” Liam agreed, “but maybe you should also consider performing some of these. I assume the ones we’ve been working on are too personal for you to give to someone else to sing.”

“Yeah, there’s no way,” Louis said, shaking his head. Just imagining someone else singing and sharing the words he’d written with the world made him feel sick. But did the idea of him performing them himself feel the same?

As Louis considered it, he realized it didn’t. It made him feel nervous, maybe even a little excited. He’d never considered going out and doing music on his own, hell he’d even thought he might quit it entirely, which was why he’d bought the farm. It had become clear he couldn’t leave it behind though, and he’d hoped singing the covers with One Direction at One Night Inn would quench that desire within him.

And it had, for about a month. As soon as he stood on stage with them in front of the small audience he knew he wanted to do it properly again.

Blowing air out of his mouth, Louis looked at the guys nervously. “Do you guys mind helping me get my set ready?”

“Holy shit,” Niall cried, snapping his fingers and jumping excitedly. “We’ve got Tommo off his ass and making new music again! Look at us go!”

Louis laughed and shook his head before taking a chance and glancing at Harry. He still looked sad, but he also looked… Louis wasn’t really sure how he looked. Proud, maybe. 

He hoped so. He’d really fucked up with Harry and at this point he wasn’t really sure how to fix that exactly, if he ever could, but if he could make Harry proud of how he was moving forward then he couldn’t really be upset about that.

“Alright, well, I guess I should play you the rough recordings of each one so we can go from there. We don’t have much time, and I’ve got to get these performance ready,” Louis said, laughing as they cheered.

That was one issue solved, at least. Only about 78 thousand left.

*~~***~~*

Louis rushed out of his office and into the studio to quickly grab the list they’d made of the songs he would perform. He was pretty sure he remembered them, but for whatever reason he was more nervous than he’d been the night DOUBLE GAMMON performed to pitch themselves to the record label for the first time. He had no idea how his nerves might try to betray him once he got on stage, so it was best to be sure he didn’t forget anything and that he had the printed set list.

He had just folded the list and turned the corner towards the front door when he slammed into a body.

“Fuck,” Louis whined, holding his forehead. He’d hit the guy’s nose, he was pretty sure. “Sorry.”

“Dammit, that hurts,” Harry said, hand still solidly on Louis’ shoulder even as he rubbed at his nose with his hand. “I’m not bleeding, am I?” 

Louis closely inspected it and cursed the fact that even Harry’s nose was beautiful. Fuck noses.

“Looks fine,” Louis said. “I am sorry. I didn’t want to be late for you guys.”

Harry nodded and then raised his eyes to Louis’ hair before reaching up to smooth some back.

“I’m afraid I loosened the hold of your hairspray,” he pouted. “Your quiff is already falling down.”

Louis shook his head. “It’s fine, it was never going to hold anyway. Just wanted to give a try at looking nice or whatever.”

Harry nodded and then finally withdrew his hand. “I was just coming in because I thought I should warn you so you aren’t blindsided. Again. Uhm, so—”

“Lou, this place really is incredibly perfect for you. It fits you a lot better than that mansion near Pittsburgh ever did.”

Louis and Harry both turned to see Nick strolling into the living room.

“Nicholas,” Louis said. 

When Louis glanced over at him, Harry was wincing and sending him an apologetic look. Nick was what he was trying to warn him about, then. At least he was trying to look out for Louis in some way.

Louis nodded and gave him a small smile before turning back to Nick.

“Why do you not ever warn me you’re going to be coming before showing up? At least you aren’t completely wasted this time, that’s a plus,” Louis said with a smirk.

“Oh please, like you expect anything less from me,” Nick said, smiling wide. “Does this mean I’m at least somewhat forgiven?”

Louis arched his brow. “Do you think you deserve to be forgiven so easily considering everything?”

At least Nick had the decency to look ashamed. “Maybe not.”

Louis hummed. “Well, we’re going to be late for our show, which would then mean the two of us would be late for our own solo sets later, so let’s get a move on.”

Nick glanced between Louis and Harry in surprise. “You’re doing a solo set too? I came because I knew about Harry’s, but I didn’t know you were singing as well.”

“Brand new thing, haven’t even announced it. It’s going to be a surprise, which hopefully means people are more accepting of whatever the quality of music that I play will be,” Louis said, laughing in an attempt to forget about the nausea that had snuck up on him a little bit.

“You’re going to be great,” Harry whispered, lightly gripping Louis’ elbow before letting go again. “Your songs are amazing.”

“Thanks, H,” Louis said with a smile. “But yes, I have to show off my songwriting skills somehow if I’m going to be able to work with other artists, don’t I? And maybe this old man isn’t completely done putting his own music out, either.”

Nick burst out laughing. “You fucking know how much it bothers me hearing  _ you _ call yourself an old man. Honestly, between you and Greg.”

The friendly atmosphere that had entered the room left almost immediately after Nick mentioned Greg’s name.

“Yeah,” Louis said, clearing his throat. “So, as I said, we’ve got a show to do.”

“Break a leg, and all that,” Nick said, quiet for maybe the first time in his life.

Louis nodded and walked out the door. Harry stayed behind for a minute, like Louis expected, honestly. 

It was fine. Everything was going to be fine.

*~~***~~*

“Hello everyone,” Louis said, climbing onto the stage and settling onto the stool that was set in front of the microphone. “So, uh, surprise.”

Louis smiled as he saw the looks of confusion in the audience slowly turn to understanding. He also saw a  _ lot _ of cell phones that hadn’t been out already get whipped out as they started furiously trying to spread the word.

Fair enough, he supposed.

“Maren, the artist you were promised originally, has gotten sick last minute and someone needed to fill her slot without much warning and the guys convinced me to do it.” Louis gave a self deprecating smile and shrugged. “So, here I am. I’ve had some time on my hands and I’ve been trying to do some more songwriting, but in a slightly different vein than I ever did with DOUBLE GAMMON. Our good man Payno has been helping me, and I think I’ve got some pretty decent stuff to share with you now.”

Louis focused on adjusting the mic stand so it would sit properly for his acoustic guitar. When he couldn’t put it off any longer, he sat with his arms draped over the guitar and really took in the people standing in front of him. The space was quickly filling to capacity, which didn’t really help his nerves, but at least he knew people were still interested in his music.

“These songs are really personal to me, really special,” Louis explained. “This is also the first time I’m performing them for anyone outside of the One Direction guys, so I’m actually pretty nervous, but I know you will be kind and will probably tell me you love them even if they suck.” 

Everyone laughed a little, and Louis tried to ignore the fact that over half of the audience members had phones in their hands and this was probably streaming live on a few different platforms. 

“So, with that introduction, thank you for having me, even though I guess you couldn’t force me to get off of the stage even if you wanted to since I own it.” Louis chuckled. “I’m going to play a handful of songs for you today, all of them new and all of them written by me and Payno. This first one is a song called End of the Day.”

Louis went through his set, feeling more and more at ease even as each song slowly became more vulnerable and open, like a wrench prying him open for the world to see. It was funny, though, because for once he didn’t mind. 

The audience didn’t seem to, either. They were silent as they swayed to the music, sometimes joining in on the chorus by the time he got to the end of the song, always giving him their complete attention and he hadn’t felt so alive in years. It was incredible how quickly he’d forgotten the feeling of sharing his own music with people who really appreciated it.

“This is the last song now,” Louis said, clearing his throat and taking a quick drink of water. “I’ve already taken up too much time, but I’m guessing Niall’s alright with that.”

Niall stood by the side of the stage, his guitar strapped to his back, just as he had been the entire set. He smiled kindly at Louis and shook his head.

Louis nodded in thanks before looking back at the audience. “So yeah. This one is called Home.”

When he finished, he took a quick bow and waved before running down and accepting the hug Niall offered him. 

Soon enough, Niall was on stage, getting the audience riled back up after Louis’ fairly muted and emotional set. It wasn’t low energy by any means, which was what he had often associated with slower songs when he was touring and recording with DOUBLE GAMMON. Many of their songs were so fast paced and hard hitting because he’d requested that they be that way. In some ways he was more exhausted from that solo set than he had been after a full show of screaming and singing while jumping around the stage.

Feelings did that to a person, apparently.

Louis stood off to the side for Niall’s entire performance and then Harry’s. As Harry closed the night down and sent everyone on their way, Louis couldn’t help but feel grateful. He was able to witness this man perform like this, like he was meant to, and he knew he was in the presence of absolute talent.

All of the guys were talented, of course. They were all incredible. He wouldn’t have actually gone through with this idea of the five of them coming together as a band if they weren’t, but there was something that Louis saw in Harry that absolutely blew him away. 

Niall, Liam, and Zayn loved performing and making music, but it wasn’t their main passion. They had other things they leant on more for that feeling of total fulfillment. It was incredibly obvious to anyone who dared to look that music was  _ it _ for Harry. It was his fate, destiny. And when Louis looked out into the audience and saw Nick standing by the bar, watching with complete adoration as Harry sang his heart out on stage, he knew that Nick was Harry’s fate as well.

*~~***~~*

Louis sat and peacefully swung on his balcony, having one last cigarette before going to bed as he watched the last of the partygoers that weren’t staying the night on the farm drive away. It was still warm, but it wasn’t stifling like it had been earlier, and he was grateful.

“Hey.”

Louis turned and saw Harry standing in the doorway, two bags slung over his shoulder and one in his hands. 

“Hey,” Louis said, swallowing harshly. 

He knew this was how it was all going to end. He’d basically been forewarned, but it was so much more real seeing Harry there with his things in hand, not even staying the night one last time.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity,” Harry said, clearing his throat. 

His voice sounded thick, almost like he was trying not to cry, which didn’t make any sense to Louis.  _ Louis _ was the one who was the definite loser in all of this. Harry was getting everything he wanted, and Louis was the one who fucked up and was paying the price.

“I really owe everything I have, and the opportunity to tour with Grimmy for a while, to you.”

Louis shook his head. “I’ve done nothing. You and your talent, your drive, did this. You deserve all of it, and I know it’s just the beginning.”

Harry shrugged with his one unladen shoulder. “I still wouldn’t be where I am if you hadn’t let me join the band.”

“You mean if you hadn’t forced me to hear you sing?” Louis asked, chuckling. “Again, this is all thanks to your determination. So thank  _ you _ for being a part of my crazy idea coming to life.”

The soft laughter died out quickly, leaving them studying each other in the soft light of the moon and the remnants of the lighting from the outdoor stage across the field.

“So, anyway. Thanks again, Louis.”

Louis couldn’t say anything. If he tried he knew the tears would fall and he didn’t want Harry to see that. Instead, he pasted on the best smile he could muster and nodded.

“Bye, Lou.”

Louis barely held it together until Harry had walked back into the house. He held both hands to his mouth and breathed harshly from his nose, hoping that he could keep it all in until he saw Harry and Nick get into the car and start to drive. Only then would he know that Harry wouldn’t hear him or see him mourning yet another loss of someone he loved.

Fuck. He did. He loved Harry.

And now he was watching him drive away.


	17. Indigenous Peoples Day/Halloween 2025

Louis pursed his lips and stared out at the empty performance space. This was the sound check, they were meant to have everything ready to go already for their celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day, and all he could think about was how the songs just didn’t sound quite right.

“Dude, it’s cause we don’t have Harry this time, alright?” Zayn explained. “It’s not going to sound right to you because we don’t have him. We just have to do what we can without him and make it sound as good as we can. It’ll be fine.”

Louis sighed and nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He strummed the guitar and pulled himself together. Harry wasn’t the only person in their band and they all sounded great in their own right. He just needed to get used to not having his voice harmonizing with theirs. “Alright. Let’s try that Grant-Lee Phillips song once more and then we can do Somewhere Down the Crazy River.”

They did sound fine, just as Zayn had said they would, and the concert went off without a hitch. They were back to playing on the smaller stage, and while he did miss the energy of the larger crowd, there was something comforting about being back in their performance barn. 

Even if Harry wasn’t there.

Louis’ performance at the afterparty for Labor Day had gone viral and his manager had been in touch with him about whether they should be getting lawyers involved and start looking at contracts. She wasn’t entirely convinced that Louis was only writing songs for himself at the moment, which was fine. Maybe he’d want more later, but for now he was going to stick with One Night Inn.

The result of that, though, was that people had been reaching out about buying tickets to their two sold out events in October as well as the others through the end of the year. It was insane considering Louis was already considering the venture a popular success given his expectations and now this? Louis had no idea there would be such a demand, much less that people would be hungry for new music from him. It was a lot, and he liked it, but he still felt tired all the time and he needed to get past that.

“So what costume are you going to wear for the Halloween show?” Zayn asked, leaning over and bumping Louis’ shoulder with his own.

Louis laughed. “I dunno, man. I kind of assumed that Harry was going to plan an entire group costume for all of us, so when he left I didn’t even think about needing to take that over again.”

“It’s alright,” Zayn said with a shrug. “Liam and Niall are going to be going all over the top and dressing like pirates, but I’m not into all that. We could just get some face paint or something and do our makeup like we’re members of KISS if you want? That’s easy enough.”

Louis smiled at the idea. “Yeah, I like that,” he agreed. “Simple and effective.”

Harry had posed the idea of a Halloween costume party back in the spring when Louis was getting future dates ready to go on sale, and he’d loved the idea. It all felt a bit dull without Harry the mastermind there to participate with them.

“Thanks, man.” Louis looped his arm around Zayn’s shoulders and pulled him into his side. “Sorry I’ve been a bit boring lately, but I promise I’ll work on it.”

“You’ll get there, man. It’s fine.”

*~~***~~*

Louis kept picking up his phone, considering texting Harry just to check in with him and see how he was doing. 

He never did.

Louis was in full makeup, a white layer on his face and a large black star over one eye, but other than that and the fact they both agreed to wear their hair quiffed, Louis and Zayn had decided to keep their actual outfits fairly casual. Louis had chosen a shirt with bats on it and a regular pair of jeans. He liked it and felt it was in line with the costume party they were throwing without having to put too much effort into it.

As he walked out of his room, he expected to hear more noise from the other guys getting ready, but they were all quiet. Louis checked his phone and realized he was almost late. If he didn’t hurry, he wouldn’t have time to properly warm up. He had no idea he’d wasted that much time messing with his phone, thinking about Harry.

Frustrated, Louis did his best to push the man from his thoughts and focus on that night’s show. It was sure to be a fun one and he really was pumped for their set list.

He jogged into the performance barn, doing his best to avoid seeing any of the fans who were waiting for the show. As he was walking down the hallway, he heard Liam drumming his sticks on a chair or something while Niall and Zayn chatted.

“Oh shit,” Niall said, laughing a little. “And did you see the live Grimmy did of him last night? He was so worried about throwing that cake but everyone was so excited for it.”

“Yeah! Almost died when he stood there apologizing, and then singing his apologies during the song too,” Zayn said as he tuned his bass. “Harry hasn’t mentioned it on any of his accounts yet, but did you see how he’s going to be joining Grimmy for at least a few songs during his Christmas special? That’s a pretty huge fucking deal.”

Louis had started paying closer attention to what they were saying as soon as he heard Grimmy’s name, but then he heard Harry’s and he fully stopped walking, freezing so as not to miss a single syllable of what they were talking about.

“I know, and there’s a rumor that the two of them might have something to do with the music that will be performed for the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center.”

“Wait, really?” Zayn asked. 

“Yeah, I texted Harry about it, but since they’re on the other side of the world right now I’m not actually sure when he’ll be able to answer.”

Louis liked hearing about all of this, but decided he could do it from in the same room. He could definitely talk about Harry without getting snappy or anything. He was totally cool.

Opening the door, Louis stepped in right as Zayn continued. “I haven’t seen anything about that. Everything I looked at was pretty flooded with the talk about how Grimmy and Harry are an item now.”

Louis accidentally let out a choking sound due to his greeting getting stuck in his throat. 

He had figured they were dating or at least pretty damn interested in each other, he would be stupid not to make that incredibly basic leap. He just didn’t think it would be something talked about this early on into Harry being in the public eye. He didn’t even have a label behind his name yet, unless something had happened that Louis didn’t know about.

But shit. If Louis was being totally honest with himself, he’d always hoped that Harry would do the shows with Grimmy and then come back to the Inn to perform with One Direction again. Maybe talk things out with Louis and allow them to actually give dating a try. All of his hopes regarding that were swirling away if Harry and Nick actually had started a relationship.

“Louis, hey,” Zayn said, surprise and an apology clear as day in his eyes. “Sorry, I assumed you were keeping the closest tabs on Harry out of all of us.”

Louis shook his head and pasted on a smile. “No, been trying to keep away from his socials and things, actually. Didn’t want to seem too clingy or anything considering everything.”

Zayn nodded. 

“Your makeup looks pretty damn cool, Zee,” Louis said, trying to focus on his actual surroundings. “Ni, I’m disappointed in you, though. Your pirate costume is pretty damn lame compared to the actual Jack Sparrow who is playing drums for us tonight.”

“He didn’t tell me he was going that far,” Niall whined, looking like he was angry enough about it to stomp his foot like a child. He even went so far as to cross his arms across his chest as he huffed a little. “I would have upped my game if I’d known it wasn’t just a silly Halloween City type costume party tonight.” 

Liam shrugged unapologetically. “I’m not sorry about it. I love Halloween and besides, between the band and DJing, I’m going to be on stage for several hours. I better look good if people are going to be looking at me all night.”

Niall shook his head, pursing his lips and clearly trying to focus on something else when he changed the topic. “Whatever. We ready to warm up?”

Louis nodded and went through the various vocal exercises mindlessly. 

_ Grimmy and Harry are an item now. Grimmy and Harry are an item now. Grimmy and Harry are an item now. _

His brain seemed incredibly focused on the idea of looping that line repeatedly, and he wasn’t sure how to get it to stop. It was going to be awful and absolutely torturous if he couldn’t get it to stop.

Louis threw himself fully into the music, just like he always had to try and cope with the shit that came his way. He ramped up everything he was already planning on doing and went as hard as he possibly could. 

And it worked. The show was amazing and the energy was through the roof. The entire audience seemed buzzed as they bounced around in their own costumes, and it was a great night.

The only issue was that when it was all over, Louis was drunk and alone in bed, the silence around him so loud it was buzzing in his ears.

He would hate himself for it in the morning, he knew he would, but he couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t want to be caught off guard again like he was tonight. Whether it made him a creep or not, Louis was going to start keeping closer tabs on Harry social media wise. 

Louis opened Twitter first, quickly navigating to Harry’s profile and clicking the notifications tab and turning them on for all tweets. He did the same on Instagram, wanting to be alerted whether he was doing a Live video, had posted something to his stories, literally anything. Louis wanted that damn alert so he could get at least the smallest glimpse into Harry’s life now.

Shit. So much had changed in only two months. Then again, it had taken less time than that the year before for so much to have changed as well. Maybe that line that adults always said about time moving faster when you’re older was true. Louis hadn’t ever really believed it, because even when he was young life already seemed pretty fast paced.

Now, though, he laid on his bed and drunkenly reflected on what all had happened since last Halloween. It was right about then that he’d gotten a notice that the zoning permissions and business inspections had all passed, and everything could move forward. He had finally started putting into action everything that he had been planning for months while they got everything else ready to go. This time last year, Louis hadn’t even met Harry yet. How crazy was that?

Louis scrolled through Harry’s photos further and further back, wondering how long Harry had actually had the account. Would this go on forever until Louis suddenly saw a pimply and gangly fifteen year old trying to act cool in high school? Louis would kind of love that, actually. He hoped Harry had been as over the top with his social media as Louis had been back then.

Then, Louis came upon a photo of a stage he would recognize anywhere. It was from a tour DOUBLE GAMMON had done back in 2018. They’d just started really gaining popularity and were experiencing incredible success on the charts. Their shows were just hitting the bigger venues, and everything other than Greg and the others in the band felt like it was a blur.

Harry hadn’t said what city it was or made any mention about the venue in his caption, he’d just quoted some DOUBLE GAMMON lyrics, but the few photos he added were incredible.

Louis kept scrolling, and as he did he started finding more and more DOUBLE GAMMON content. In fact, for a while, it almost seemed like Harry’s Instagram had become entirely dedicated to the band. It made Louis smile, but it also made him incredibly sad that he was such a fan and Louis was only finding out about it now. 

Ignoring the longing in his chest to cuddle such a ridiculous and gorgeous man, Louis kept scrolling, and it was then that Louis understood Harry’s attachment to the band. 

There was a post with multiple photos attached, and a lengthy caption, but what had caught Louis’ eye was the rainbow flag in the first photo. 

It was Harry’s coming out post. After reading what Harry had to say, Louis scrolled back to the photos and slowly looked through all of them. It was so personal and beautiful and honest, Louis was crying in bed over the whole thing. 

The last photo was a picture of Louis and Greg, holding hands on stage as they smiled at each other, happily. They looked so young, and Louis supposed in that photo they had been. They’d been dating for a year or so at that point, and had decided to come out together. It was still basically unheard of for there to be an out gay member of a rock band, much less two who were dating each other, and it had been big news. 

According to Harry’s caption, it was their openness that had given him the confidence to come out to everyone. 

Louis wanted to know so much more. Then again, if he was honest with himself, he wanted to know  _ everything _ about Harry. He almost felt like he was prying or reading a journal with the way he was going through these old posts. 

Sniffling a little, Louis scrolled back to the top and made sure the notifications were on, and then closed out. That was enough for now.

Louis rolled over, plugged in his phone, and turned the light out. As he wiped the tears from his face after crying over the fact that he’d had such an influence on Harry’s life starting that long ago, he also mourned that he had lost that place of respect in Harry’s eyes. He probably thought Louis was a bully for treating Nick as he had, and Louis wasn’t sure he would ever even get the chance to explain.

Lost chances and ruined dreams haunted Louis that night far more than any ghouls or goblins.

He would have preferred those instead.


	18. Thanksgiving 2025

Last year’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day shows had somewhat snuck up on Louis when it came to the food. They had been forced to use the farmhouse kitchen because there had been an issue with a vent not being up to code in the larger, catering style kitchen he’d had built to support the meals he wanted to provide to those staying at the Inn as part of the perk for staying there. It had been frustrating for both him and his staff to work in such a small space and due to the lack of equipment in a home kitchen, the entire dinner had turned out to be a much more low key affair than he had hoped it would be originally.

The larger kitchen had finally gotten approved two days after Christmas and was ready to go in time for the New Year’s festivities. They’d used it for the events since. Because of that quick shift, the farmhouse kitchen had naturally been left alone.

Thanksgiving had changed that, though. Louis could hardly walk into the kitchen, due to the various boxes and coolers that seemed to be stacked everywhere. Sarah had promised that they’d be out of the way on Thanksgiving Day, but until she got everything organized and slowly started her preparations for a proper Thanksgiving meal, Louis’ kitchen was clearly the one bearing the brunt of it.

Louis carefully maneuvered his way around the maze to the fridge. Pulling it open, he found it to also be completely full of food that was not available for him to eat unless he wanted Sarah to serve  _ him _ with the meal tomorrow.

“Don’t even try, there’s nothing you can eat in there,” Niall called. “I’m running to town to get some pizza. Want in?”

“Oh my god, yes please,” Louis said, relieved. Louis and Niall haggled over pizza toppings and before too long, Louis was alone in the maze of the kitchen again.

Harry probably would have been upset over the kitchen being out of commission when he was there. He was definitely the one who used it the most for his own cooking, though Liam and Niall also did a fair bit. Louis would cook or bake when the mood struck him, but otherwise preferred easily prepared meals and had not really had a home cooked meal outside of the holidays since Harry left.

Louis scrubbed at his nose and sighed. He still hadn’t taken notifications off for Harry yet and it had been almost a month now. In fact, rather than removing the notifications, Louis had also put Nick on notification as well as a few update accounts that had popped up for Harry and the Gryles shippers.

Louis really was pathetic. Hopefully if he let himself have this through Christmas, he’d be able to work through his shit and get over Harry. He wasn’t really ready to do so just yet, but he blamed that on his own ridiculous levels of sentimentality.

Saturday would mark a year since Louis had met Harry. He was getting more emotional about it than he’d anticipated and honestly he wished he wasn’t. It was embarrassing and there was no good way to explain to the guys that the reason he was having such a hard time making it through some of their song choices was because they made him think of how thankful he was to have even met Harry.

Rather than pouting and going down another spiral of sadness and feelings surrounding Harry, Louis got up and went to the studio again. Music always helped.

*~~***~~*

Louis had stayed behind after their sound check, preferring to sit alone in the green room behind the stage. He strummed on his guitar a little, the sound of everyone coming in for Thanksgiving dinner filtering through. It sounded chaotic and smelled amazing. What else could anyone want on Thanksgiving?

Almost as if the universe was answering him, Louis’ phone vibrated with a notification that Harry was live on Instagram. Louis didn’t think twice, he clicked the notification and made sure his volume was on so he could hear Harry as well as see him.

“...I’m just so excited that I had to share this with you.” Louis heard Harry before the picture fully resolved, but when it did it showed him wearing beanie under the hood of a sweatshirt, a black coat layered on top. Even with all of those layers, his cheeks were red from the cold wind. He was breathtaking. “Take a look where I am!”

Harry showed the National Mall and the Lincoln Memorial before he panned over to a few of the Smithsonian buildings. When he got the camera angled towards the Washington Monument, Louis could see the beginnings of a stage going up which would probably be ready by that night or tomorrow morning.

“This is where we’ll be filming Grimmy’s Christmas special, and let me tell you, it is so cool seeing all the behind the scenes aspects of this.” 

Harry switched the camera back to selfie mode and made a ridiculous face in excitement and Louis could only smile and shake his head. He was so full of energy and happiness always. Louis missed that part of having him around as much as anything else.

“I’ve never really been a part of anything like this before. The closest was One Direction, and that was an entirely different thing, you know? Louis had his own amazing vision for what he wanted to happen and made sure he kept to that, and that was magic in and of itself. But this is…” Harry shook his head and shrugged as if he was so overwhelmed he couldn’t find the words. “It’s just  _ huge. _ Everything Grimmy does has to be the biggest thing he can possibly imagine, which is crazy, but also stupidly exciting. And terrifying. It’s going to be filmed to play on national television, you know?”

Louis tried his best to focus on the rest of what Harry was saying, but hearing Harry mention his name without sounding bitter or angry towards him was jarring to say the least. He knew Harry would never be cruel, but considering Louis’ behavior was the whole reason Harry left in the first place, Louis kind of expected him to basically act like One Direction had never happened. Instead, he’d sounded almost fond when he’d said his name. What did it even mean?

“So anyway, the show is free on Saturday night and it’s right here on the National Mall,” Harry said, following it up with a wide cheesy grin. “We’d love to see all of you out there, singing along with some Christmas classics. Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it, and happy Thursday to everyone else. Bye!”

The screen went blank indicating the live had ended, and Louis just continued to stare at it. DC wasn’t that far away, it would be an easy drive for him to make…

Shaking his head, Louis took a deep breath and tried to pull himself out of whatever stupor he’d just fallen into regarding Harry. He was not going to drive down to Washington DC. First of all, Harry was dating Nick now. He didn’t have any reason to give Louis the time of day. 

Plus, if Louis was so desperate for Harry to forgive him and just be friends again, then he could just suck up his pride and call the man. Text him. Send him a video of himself giving a heartfelt apology. Something that still was a good representation of (almost) everything he felt for him and wanted him to know, but without showing up randomly at the filming of the holiday special he was a part of like a creep or stalker.

Acknowledging it was time to put the guitar away, Louis stood and locked it up with the other instruments before heading back to the farmhouse. 

“Hey, Lou,” Niall greeted with a smile. “Dinner’s almost done. Carrie said our food should be here in about half an hour so we can eat up and still have plenty of time to get ready.”

Louis nodded and put his hands in his pockets. “Sounds good, sounds good.”

“Oh, and Zayn’s out back having a smoke. Said to tell you to join him when you got back cause he wants to talk to you about something.”

Louis looked at Niall in confusion as the man kept messing around on his phone and biting at his hangnails. 

“Ni, how long ago did he tell you to give me that message?”

Niall looked up at Louis as if he was crazy to ask. “I dunno, pretty much right after soundcheck ended, I guess.”

Louis raised his brows. “So, like, over an hour ago now? Do you really think he’s still out there?”

“Yeah?” he replied with a shrug. “He hasn’t come back in, even if he got tired of waiting, so I don’t really know what to tell ya.”

“Yeah, alright. I’ll see if he’s back there. Do you know what it was about?”

“Dude, it’s Zayn.” Niall gave a wry smile as he said, “I know next to nothing about what goes on inside his head.”

Chuckling, Louis said, “Yeah, true. Thanks, man.”

Louis made his way to the kitchen and found it empty of everything that had been stashed there. What a relief.

As Louis walked out the door, there was a gasp and a flurry of movement to Louis’ right. Turning and looking, Liam and Zayn were flushed and pulling away from each other as Liam hastily wiped at his mouth.

“Ah, that’s how you were able to handle the cold for so long,” Louis said with a smirk.

“Fuck off,” Zayn said with a smile as he pulled out his cigarettes. “I really did come out here to smoke. Li just joined me in progress instead of you.”

Louis hummed and smiled at Liam who in return gave Louis an embarrassed grin before kissing Zayn once more and heading inside.

“Wow, it’s serious enough that Liam doesn’t want to hang around for the discussion, huh?” Louis said in surprise. He walked over to the chairs and table that were set up a little further away from the house. “Maybe I should get my own cigarette out.”

Zayn sighed and walked over from where he was leaning against the house so he could sit down as well. “It’s really not that big a deal. He just doesn’t think I should bring it up.”

“Bring what up?” Louis asked as he ducked his lighter inside his shirt. It was unorthodox but effective in keeping the wind from causing issues when lighting his cigarettes.

“Harry.”

Louis breathed a little too deeply in his surprise and started coughing immediately.

“Yeah, see. That’s why. Can’t even mention his name without you reacting violently,” Zayn said, deadpan.

“I’m not reacting violently,” Louis choked out between coughs. “He just wasn’t even on my radar of potential topics, so you surprised me and I breathed the smoke in too fast.”

“Mmhmm,” Zayn hummed, smirking. “What else did you think I wanted to talk to you about?”

“I don’t know,” Louis said, waving his arms around now that he was getting past the coughing spell. “Dinner tonight, the songs, Liam, quitting the band, complaining about me or Niall, wanting to get paid more, requesting a new logo for the inn, help burying a dead body. Like, literally  _ anything _ but Harry.”

Zayn sighed. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

“Yeah, already know that much, thanks,” Louis said, rubbing at his nose self consciously.

“You know he’s just down in DC, right?”

Louis nodded and refused to even look at Zayn lest he somehow give away the ridiculous thought he had earlier of driving down there.

“And?” Zayn asked, incredulously. 

Louis finally looked up at that. “And what? I really don’t know what I’m meant to fill in there.”

“And what’s your plan to get him back?”

Louis burst into laughter. “Back? I never had him in the first place.”

“Oh yes you fucking did, Louis William Tomlinson,” Zayn said, jabbing his cigarette towards Louis. “You had that man and you lost him because you were a stubborn idiot.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Do you think I don’t regret that fact nearly every day? I don’t need you to remind me how stupid I am.”

“I’m not saying it was all you, alright?” Zayn said, voice softer. “Harry was pretty bull-headed about it as well. I don’t know everything about what happened with you, Grimmy, and Greg, but I know enough to understand why you were acting the way you were. You were scared.”

Louis shifted in his seat and scratched at the table. Zayn and Liam were dangerous that way. They both saw Louis a little too clearly and understood him a touch too well. It was great most of the time, but also made him feel incredibly vulnerable when they decided to use it like Zayn was right now.

“Listen.” Zayn tucked his legs beneath himself and studied Louis for a moment. “Harry needs a ‘big moment,’ alright? He was trying to take that damn oversized teddy bear with him when he left in September, for fuck’s sake. Grimmy wouldn’t let him.”

Louis couldn’t help but giggle a little. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Zayn said fondly. “It was really funny, actually. Grimmy was staring at it like it was going to eat him or something, and Harry just kept trying to move it all by himself to show him it would definitely fit in his tiny ass car.”

“Oh my god,” Louis said, laughing even harder. “He would.”

They both laughed a little bit, thinking about the scene, before going quiet again.

“That bear meant so much to him, though, because it was us being stupidly over the top to  _ show him _ how much we cared. Words are nice, but it’s the actions that really sink in for him.”

Louis rubbed his forehead. “So what are you saying?” 

“I’m saying,” Zayn mocked, reaching his foot out to nudge Louis’ knee before tucking it back under himself again and shivering, “that maybe you should consider what other big gesture you could make to show him you still care. Like driving down on Saturday to see him.”

Louis shook his head. “There’s no way that would actually work.”

“Sure it would,” Zayn countered. “Why wouldn’t it? You surprising him by showing up there for the biggest gig of his life so far, supporting him, and maybe telling him what all went down so he gets why you treated Grimmy how you did would be the perfect way to tell him you’re sorry and want to have his babies.”

Louis sputtered. “What the fuck?”

Zayn shrugged. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“I… you…” Louis sputtered. “Fuck.”

“That’s what I thought,” Zayn said with a smile. “Come on, man. Go get your boy.”

“He’s not my boy,” Louis said, shaking his head. “He doesn’t belong to anyone, but he’s dating Nick. What would even be the point?”

“He’d give up everything for you,” Zayn said, hand holding the cigarette getting a bit animated. “He is  _ so _ gone for you.”

“And I have no right to ask that of him,” Louis said. “I’d be no better than Nick was to me a few years ago.”

“Then at least do it to show him you think he’s worth it.”

Louis stared across the property to the trees that lined the nearest boundary and considered it. He’d have to figure out details like where to park because he knew nothing about actually driving in Washington DC. He’d already dismissed the idea when he considered it earlier, but if Zayn was supporting him, well. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all. 

And it wasn’t like he’d be doing it to try to convince Harry to come back. He would literally just be trying to mend what he previously thought was a fully burned bridge. Maybe the bridge was only slightly damaged and just needed reinforcements after all.

“You think I should?” Louis doubled checked.

“Yeah,” Zayn said with a smile as he stubbed out his cigarette. “I really do.”

Louis did the same and stood up. “Well. Maybe I will, then.”

Zayn pumped his fist in the air before heading towards the door. “Awesome. Now let's get back inside. I can’t feel my ass.”

Louis snickered and gave it a smack before running inside and slamming the door behind him, Zayn yelling obscenities the whole way.


	19. November 28, 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where it gets fun! 
> 
> And Niall might be my favorite part of this whole chapter. Just fyi.

“Do you think…” Louis scrunched his nose. “Do you think we should keep this going?”

Where previously there had been the sound of forks and knives against plates and general comments being made between bites, it went dead silent. When Louis looked up from his breakfast plate he found three sets of eyes staring at him in surprise.

“Louis,” Liam said, slow and serious. He set his fork down and folded his arms as he settled back into his seat before continuing. “What are you talking about?”

Louis waved in the general direction of the performance barn. “This. The holiday inn idea with shows every major—and some not so major—holiday. Do you think we should continue or just call it a day?”

“Okay seriously, what are you talking about?” Zayn asked at the same time Liam squawked, “Where did this even come from? Did we do something wrong?” 

Just as Liam was finishing his concerned question, Niall pounded the table and said, “What the actual fuck?”

Louis felt defensive and couldn’t help the instinct to fold his arms around himself, as if that would protect him from anything. 

“I don’t see why it’s such a ridiculous question.” Louis settled in for the argument he knew was probably going to happen soon enough. “I’m literally pulling you away from your family and friends on the most important days of the year. The time when people are supposed to be with family. And same with the people who come out for the shows as well. Instead of allowing them to be with family, we’re making them come spend their time with us, doing a show of cover music that follows whatever stupid theme I’ve found that loosely connects to the holiday. I really think I should feel lucky that it lasted for a whole year and people are still interested in coming, but do you really think it’s something that will last? Are people going to want to continue to leave their loved ones on those big holidays?”

Niall took another slow bite of food, but didn’t take his eyes off of Louis and the other two were quiet until Liam raised his hand as if they were in a classroom.

“Yes, Liam,” Louis said, in a mock serious tone.

Lowering it, Liam clasped his hands in his lap and leaned forward. “If you’re actually concerned about us being away from our families on those holidays, then you should know that it’s fine.”

“But they’re literally the most important family times of the year,” Louis argued.

“Yes, and we agreed to your plan and then offered to be a part of your band,” Liam shot back. “We wouldn’t have done it if we weren’t okay with that idea, so it’s a non-issue. As for the fans coming out and leaving family behind, have you ever considered that the holidays are actually really fucking hard for some people and this might be the thing for them to look forward to during an otherwise hard time?”

Louis paused, his mouth open and ready to argue that point as well, but then what Liam said sank in. No. He hadn’t thought about that possibility.

“I’ve had some good conversations with some people that said that One Night Inn and One Direction gave them something to look forward to and an excuse to stay away from toxic situations they otherwise would have been basically forced into,” Liam continued, looking earnestly at Louis, truly desiring him to fully understand what he was talking about. “Also, everyone else? They’re still paying to come. They don’t have to do that. You’re not forcing anyone to come to these shows and spend time on the farm. That’s all them, and the more shows we do, the faster they sell out. Just a few months ago you were talking about expanding the performance barn so we could fit more people year round due to all the interest and even considered building another barn for more rooms for guests. What happened to all of that? What changed?”

Louis sighed and continued to fiddle with his fork where it was dragging the same soggy piece of waffle through some syrup.

“Harry. Harry changed,” Zayn said quietly, watching Louis. 

When Louis looked up and met Zayn’s eyes, he could tell that he was confused. Louis didn’t blame him. After all, just yesterday afternoon Zayn had convinced Louis to go ahead and make a grand gesture to win Harry back and Louis had agreed to it, for the most part.

“Yeah. And Harry’s dating Nick,” Louis reminded Zayn. “I just don’t feel right going down there to talk to him like that. It feels too much like I’d be actively trying to draw him away from the relationship he’s clearly very happy in. I should just keep my distance and let him be.”

“No you fucking should not,” Niall practically yelled. “Didn’t you hear the news?”

“What news?” Louis asked.

Niall laughed a little, obviously gleeful, and rubbed his hands together. Leaning forward over his plate and looking at each one of them individually, he waggled his eyebrows a little. 

“Well, there’s been a bit of a rumor going around the Gryles shippers, you see.”

“Oh god,” Louis said, closing his eyes. “I don’t need to hear this. There’s always conspiracies, Niall. Hell, there was an entire group of DOUBLE GAMMON fans that thought there was something between me and Chris, the drummer.”

“There was also a fairly large group of fans that believed that you and Greg were dating even before you two were out,” Zayn pointed out. “They saw the signs and knew.”

Louis had to concede to that one. It was true. “Okay, yes, they do sometimes get things right.”

“So you're not even going to listen to what they’ve been saying this whole time just because it could be false?” Niall asked, clearly indignant. “Just listen to my damn story so I can give the full reveal in all her glory! Otherwise the news doesn’t have the same punch, okay?”

“Of course, Niall. Please continue,” Liam said, looking excited.

“So, as I was saying, there have been rumors going around the Gryles shippers. Even before there were fans that shipped Grimmy and Harry and thought that they were dating, there were rumors that they  _ weren’t _ dating and were just friends.”

“Scandalous,” Louis teased.

Niall flicked him off and continued. “Since the idea of the two of them dating was also just a rumor at that point, no one thought anything of it and just moved on, but then articles dropped implying the two of them were dating and there were photos of them being chummy and all that. But the rumors that they weren’t dating didn’t stop.”

Louis blinked. “Okay, so you’re telling me there were some shippers who liked the idea of them together and hoped they would actually date, but didn’t believe that they were?”

“Yeah. Some supposedly had proof, and never shared it,” Niall said, a twinkle in his eye. “But this morning they got public confirmation.”

“I’m lost,” Zayn said. “Public confirmation of what?”

“That Grimmy and Harry aren’t dating.”

Hope rose in Louis’ chest and he tried to tamp it down, but wasn’t having much luck. “What kind of proof?” he asked.

“A video,” Niall said, now messing with his phone. “It’s got Harry telling Grimmy to shut up and go back to his boyfriend cause he was waiting for him in his hotel room.”

Louis held his hand out. “He easily could have been teasing him and calling someone else his boyfriend when really it was Nick’s manager or something,” Louis pointed out. “Come on, let me see it when you’ve got it pulled up.”

He felt a bit ridiculous, relying on fan theories and cell phone videos to know the truth, but this could literally change everything for him. If the two of them really weren’t dating…

“Here.”

Louis grabbed Niall’s phone and looked at the video. It was better than he’d expected, actually. It looked like Harry and Grimmy were standing and waiting for the elevator at their hotel and the lobby was empty.

Or obviously they thought it was, or they never would have spoken so freely. It really was quiet there, and their voices didn’t travel very far. Louis had to strain to hear them, but then he heard Harry laugh and watched him push Nick away from him as Nick laughed too.

“Fuck off and go back to your boyfriend,” Harry said, wagging his finger. “You know Mesh loves hearing you talk like that.”

Nick laughed some more before agreeing. As the elevator arrived, Nick said something the phone didn’t pick up and then Harry said, “You’re lucky he’s just in your hotel room, then.”

And the video ended.

“Okay, so Mesh could actually be his boyfriend, but he also could not be,” Louis said before handing the phone back. 

“He definitely is, though,” Niall said, smiling happily. “Because after that video spread like wildfire, TMZ did an entire article about it and then Grimmy made an official post on his Instagram.”

“What?” Louis asked, surprised. “Really?”

Louis went to Nick’s Instagram page and there it was, the most recent image on his grid was one of himself with a very handsome man, captioned only with a heart.

“Well, okay then,” Louis said, trying to process everything.

“So, I have no idea what you actually had planned regarding going down there, but if the only thing holding you back was that you thought Harry and Grimmy are dating?” Niall shrugged. “They aren’t, and it seems like they never were.”

Louis nodded. “Right. But, wait. This doesn’t actually answer my question about closing the inn.”

“What the fuck more do you want from me?” Niall asked, arms in the air. “All I want to do is eat, watch some more football, and get started picking out the Christmas songs we are going to use for the two shows this year, because you’ll have to kill me before I’ll give up One Direction and this inn, alright? I’d like to have the songs down a little better than we did last year, and we’ve still got three shows in the span of a week, so let’s get started.”

“Or, let’s have  _ us _ get started and Louis can go see if he can convince Harry to come back,” Liam said.

“I’m not actually trying to convince him to come back,” Louis said. “Sorry, I never explained that. I just want him to hear me out and be friends again.”

“Friends,” Zayn said, eyebrows raised. 

“Yeah, okay. So while Louis goes down to DC for a ‘friend,’” Liam said, even using air quotes around the word, ”we’ll get to work on the music.”

“I don’t think—” Louis started, before he was interrupted by the other three standing up and leaving the kitchen. 

“Better leave now,” Niall said over his shoulder. “There’s talk of snow coming in tonight.”

“Shit.” Louis scrambled up from the table, before rushing back and grabbing the last two strips of bacon. He hadn’t eaten enough in all of their debates about the inn, but he really was hungry. He also wasn’t sure he’d want to stop for anything before getting down to DC.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he could try to figure out where their rehearsal space was since they wouldn’t be practicing in such a public area. He could try to meet up with Harry there and not have to make a fool of himself in front of potentially thousands of people.

His mind flooding with ideas, Louis rushed upstairs to change his clothes and then he was off.


	20. November 28, 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of two or three scenes that always vividly plays in my mind from the movie. I can always picture Bing Crosby walking around a replication of his living room, moving the tree a few inches over so it's perfectly positioned the same way he has it at home. Sitting down at the piano and leaving his pipe, which of course Marjorie Reynolds finds and immediately knows he is there somewhere. Ohhhhh, I _love_ it.
> 
> It was equal parts difficult and wonderful trying to recreate my fic's version of that scene which I love so much. I hope you like it as much as I do! xxx

Louis triple checked the number on the building with the address Oli had texted to him. He was pretty sure he had the right place, but the building was unmarked except for the numbers on the wall, so he was a bit wary. Praying that whoever was working the front desk would be nice to him and easy to persuade, Louis took a deep breath and entered the building.

There… wasn’t actually a front desk. There was a large sign with various names of businesses that apparently had offices in the building, and then Louis saw what had to be the rehearsal space listed near the bottom. Meeting room and studio theater. That was the most likely place for Harry to be. Oli said he had gotten ahold of the assistant to the director of the special, who said they’d be here most of the day finalizing plans for tomorrow, but Louis was still nervous.

Making note of where the meeting room and theater were, Louis set off and made his way around the seemingly empty building. When he turned the last corner, he saw a security guard standing by the doors he was hoping to enter.

“Hello, are they currently rehearsing?” Louis asked. He couldn’t hear anything, so he didn’t think so, but there was always a good chance that if it was a studio theater, the doors didn’t allow much sound to escape when closed.

The man turned to study Louis, and then suddenly his face lit with recognition. “Hey, Louis! It’s been years since I’ve seen you. How are you doing?”

When Louis got closer, he realized the guard was Kraig. Kraig had been a part of Nick’s security team for almost a decade, and used to be Nick’s personal guard before the schedule took him away from his family too much so he scaled back to just the tours. Louis didn’t see him so much after that, so it really had been a long time.

“Doing alright, keeping busy. How about you?”

Kraig filled him in on his life, and Louis tried his best to focus, but had a hard time. He was so anxious about seeing Harry and finally being honest with him about everything that he couldn’t even stand still.

“You’re just as filled with energy as ever,” Kraig commented, chuckling. “They’re all out for lunch but should be returning soon. You wanna chill in there until they’re back?”

Louis nodded. “Yeah, that’d be great. And, uh, when Harry gets back, can you at least mention that I’d like to speak with him?”

Kraig smiled at Louis knowingly. “Yeah, I can do that.”

Louis nodded tersely, then opened the heavy door and made his way inside.

The space was small, but probably set up as an exact replica of what they’d have to work with on the Mall. Louis made his way over to the piano and began to pluck at some keys as he read the music. He wasn’t great at the piano, had only ever really mastered three or four songs, but he could sight read well enough.

Once he got bored of the music that was already sitting there, he went ahead and started playing the songs he had memorized. One song led to another which led to another, and he’d already played the first three chords when he realized what the song was.

White Christmas. He hadn’t sung that song, or even listened to it, since he and Harry had done it at the karaoke night over the summer. It had always been one of his favorite Christmas songs, but now so much of Harry was tied up emotionally in it for him, that he wasn’t sure he could play or sing it without wishing Harry was there to sing it with him.

Hoping that playing the song through would be a good omen for his upcoming conversation with Harry, Louis started the song again, taking a chance and singing along. 

He was doing fine, great even, until he got to the line “May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white.” That, for whatever reason, was all it took for Louis to get choked up, unable to sing anymore. 

He didn’t want to stop, though, now feeling like his entire future with Harry depended upon his finishing the song. So he blinked back the tears as forcefully as he possibly could and kept playing. 

Just as Harry’s part started, Louis opened his mouth to try to croak through, but another voice beat him to it.

Shocked, Louis looked over his shoulder and saw Harry standing there, singing with a small smile and nodding at Louis to continue playing. He did his best to find where he was meant to be from his memory of the song, but in the end, Harry sat down beside him and took over playing.

Harry glanced at him, as if asking if he’d join in where they’d usually harmonize, so Louis did. It was slower than they’d ever sung it before and much closer to the way Bing Crosby sang it originally, but it was also perfect.

When the song ended, Harry sat there and looked at the keys before glancing at Louis.

“What brings you down here? Kraig said you wanted to talk?”

Harry’s hair was curly and loose, falling into his eyes. It was adorable and made him look shy and vulnerable. Then again, maybe he was.

“I’m here to apologize,” Louis said, simply. “Well, apologize and explain.”

Harry hummed and nodded. “And here I was thinking you just wanted to whisk me away back to Pennsylvania.”

Louis smiled and shook his head. “Nah, I’d never get away with something like that. Not when your whole career is only just starting”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Harry said. “You can go ahead with the apology and explanation if you’d like, though. Have one of my own, too.”

Louis squished up his nose. “Is now an alright time? Like we won’t be interrupted by anyone else? Cause this might take awhile.”

“Have you even met Nick?” Harry asked, rolling his eyes. “He’s barely on time for his own shows.”

“True,” Louis said, chuckling. “But it really is a long story.”

“Maybe not as long as you think it needs to be,” Harry said with a sigh, looking awkward as he scrubbed his hands through his hair. “But I also just came to gather my things and go back to the hotel room for awhile. We’re not finishing rehearsals until later. Last minute change of schedule.”

Louis looked at Harry surprised. “Really? Why’s that?”

Harry held up his hands and did spirit fingers with a cheesy grin. “It’s my fault,” he explained after a moment. “I kind of got pissed at Nick and told him I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him until I’d calmed down. Processed everything. Turns out I’ve got a bit of a temper, you know?”

Louis snorted. “Is that so? I never would have guessed.”

Harry rolled his eyes in a self deprecating manner. “Yeah. Shocker. So, for his own good, he’s keeping away from here and my room until five.”

“Wow, what’d he do now?” Louis asked, surprised.

Running his hand through his hair once more so his curls started to turn frizzy and wild, Harry pursed his lips and then said, “Think we can talk in my room? Our hotel is just down the road. That’s why we booked this space for rehearsal.”

“Sure,” Louis agreed. They both stood up and Louis put his coat back on while Harry grabbed what he’d left in the space during lunch, and they remained quiet as they walked back to Harry’s room. 

Once they were inside the room, Louis felt the break in their conversation suddenly. Well, their break from each other as well. Harry didn’t immediately launch into a ridiculous story or start bombarding Louis with questions about everything that had happened since he’d last been at the inn. They stayed quiet and somewhat awkward as they shuffled around, removing layers and shoes before finding a place to sit that wasn’t on Harry’s bed.

“So, uh, I think maybe I should start so you know what information I already have,” Harry said, clearing his throat. 

“Okay,” Louis agreed. 

Harry stared at the floor for a moment before shaking his head a bit. “I can’t believe that Nick actually came to the inn, much less when he did. And why he did. What the fuck kind of selfish prick even does that?”

Louis blinked quickly and tried to regain his footing. “Uh…”

“I mean, he literally kept what was going on with him and Greg a secret from you— I mean sure, Greg kept it a secret as well, but we’re talking about Nick here— and then when Greg left him under very similar circumstances, he went running to you?” Harry’s eyes were wider than Louis had ever seen them and his face showed complete rage. “I’m so sorry for berating you like I did. No wonder you were treating him that way. I mean, I don’t even know much more than that. He was very matter of fact about it, it was obvious he thought I already knew, but as soon as he said what he did the pieces fell into place and I couldn’t even finish my lunch.”

“I…” Louis’ mind was reeling. The apology was nice to hear, even if he hadn’t expected or needed one. He’d felt Harry’s reaction was probably close to what his would have been if he were in his shoes. “How exactly did it even come up as a topic of conversation during lunch?”

Harry shook his head. “A DOUBLE GAMMON song came on and I made a comment about how sometimes I hear the music and forget it’s you because you seem so down to earth, and Nick snorted and said you might be but Greg wasn’t. Then he went off on some random story about Greg whining in Bali about the beds not being long enough and always expecting to be recognized and stuff, and I was so confused. Like, why was Nick on vacation with your ex-fiance, you know? So I asked him and… well, he said enough. I got the idea.”

Louis nodded, pursing his lips as he thought about it. He used to shrug off that kind of behavior with Greg all the time, because he didn’t think it was really him. It was funny looking back now, realizing how different they really were when Louis had always imagined them to be so very much the same. 

“I wish he hadn’t done that, it really isn’t how I wanted you to find out about it.” 

“Yeah, but that’s Nick, you know? He sometimes talks before he thinks and everyone loves him for that most of the time, but it was somewhat earth shattering for me today. Like, not just about Nick and what he had done and was capable of, but also just like… about how wrong I had been about you and how you had treated him at the farm. So I was already kind of reeling from all of that, and then I came back to the rehearsal space and Kraig said you were waiting for me… I honestly thought I was dreaming. I mean, what are the odds?”

Louis gave a small smile. “Yeah, crazy timing, but you’re definitely not dreaming.”

Harry chuckled softly. “No. I’m not.”

Louis swallowed and took a deep breath. “So, uh, I really am sorry you learned like that. Because you wanted to know before, and I did have an actual plan to tell you the whole story. What they did really messed me up, you know? I mean, I think I’m mostly alright now, but it’s still hard.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah. Makes sense.”

“So, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I’m sorry I pushed you away instead of telling you everything. I am willing to tell you everything now, if you want to hear it. Or just ask questions, I guess.”

Harry paused to think for a moment. “I’m not sure I’m ready to hear it all right now. What Nick said was enough for the moment, especially to realize how much I really didn’t understand of the situation and that I needed to apologize. But I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. I might ask later.”

“Okay,” Louis said.

Silence descended again and Louis wanted to reach out and grab Harry’s hand so bad. He would have if it was only a few months ago. But it wasn’t. A lot had changed since then and Louis didn’t know if it was welcome anymore.

“Sorry, my drive down here feels stupid now, when that’s all I’ve said, but I really did want to apologize in person.”

“Was that all you were planning to say?”

Louis snorted softly. “Yes? But also no. I don’t really know what I was going to say. I didn’t go into detail, I just climbed into the car and drove.”

Frustration started rising within him. He was an overthinker. He always thought through everything in important situations. This was the one time his attempts to distract himself before he talked to Harry actually worked, and now was of course the time he felt like he would have benefitted from that overthinking. 

All the same, he really did have more to say. That much he was sure of, the question was how to say it. Even without knowing the words, he knew what he wanted to do. Why didn’t he just do it?

“Okay, I lied,” Louis spit out. “There’s one more thing.”

“Yeah?”

Harry’s eyes were unwavering, and it made Louis that much more nervous to actually say the words, so he looked down into his lap and closed his eyes, praying he would have the courage to say it.

“I’m in love with you.” Louis paused, waiting to see if Harry would stop him or yell or immediately rebuff him, but when he didn’t, Louis finally opened one of his eyes just a slit. 

Harry sat beside him on the couch, frozen and looking at Louis in shock.

Louis opened both of his eyes fully and chuckled a little. “I do. I love you. I was going to tell you that, as well as making sure to clarify what exactly was going on between us, before things went crazy over the summer, I mean. I wanted to make sure you knew about what really happened with Greg and Nick before I told you, though. And then the performance when I was going to tell you, Nick came and ruined everything. Just like he did three years ago. Fuck, he really does have great timing for things like that, doesn’t he?”

Louis heard a chuckle followed by what sounded like a wet sob. He hadn’t even realized, but he had been staring at Harry’s mouth for long enough that he’d missed the fact that Harry was crying.

“Hey, you alright? Should I not have said all of that?”

“No,” Harry said, shaking his head fervently before reaching out and grabbing Louis’ hand. “I mean yes. I mean, don’t you dare take it back. In fact I’d rather you repeat the first part again, please.”

“What, that I love you?” Louis asked.

Harry let out a little whine before pulling his hand from Louis’ and covering his face. “I always cry so easily. I hate it so fucking much.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Louis said, looking around for some tissues. Of course there weren’t any, it was a hotel room. For whatever reason, they only ever seemed to keep tissues in the bathroom, no matter how nice the hotel. “Hang on, let me grab you a tissue.”

Once Louis had gathered a few, he made his way back to Harry who had pulled himself together. 

“I can’t believe…” Harry shook his head as he accepted the tissues to wipe his nose a bit as he thought a bit more. “We were so close, before. I wish I had just trusted you. Like, I know you wouldn’t behave that way with someone, especially someone you’d considered your friend, for no reason, but it just made me so mad to see you acting like that. Like, we’d gotten to know each other so well over those nine months or whatever, and then it was like you had completely transformed in front of me. I honestly didn’t feel like I knew you in that moment, and then you wouldn’t even explain why, and you know, it’s like we said before. I am incredibly stubborn and have kind of a bad temper.”

Louis chuckled. “Doesn’t sound familiar, actually. How does that work?”

Harry swatted at Louis’ shoulder. “Shut up. Oh my god, our fights are going to be horrible, aren’t they? Like, the one we had over the summer isn’t anything compared to what our actual, full blown fights will be like when it is over something seriously big.”

Louis tentatively reached for Harry’s hand and smiled when he easily turned it over to lace their fingers together. They fit together so easily. Perfectly. Like they were made for each other. If Harry was talking about their big fights, that had to mean that there was a future for them together, right? 

Louis couldn’t help but snort thinking about the fact that Harry immediately jumped to them fighting, but he wasn’t wrong. Louis could admit that. 

“You’re probably right. The fights will be epically huge, but I also think that we will be good enough together that we’ll get through those. Don’t you?”

“Oh absolutely,” Harry agreed with a smirk. “So. We’re doing this?”

Louis narrowed his eyes at Harry even as he drew his hand closer so he could gently kiss the back of it. “What exactly do you mean by that? I need to know where you stand so we are without a doubt on the same page.”

“We’re dating.” Harry said it solidly and with such conviction it almost made Louis feel silly for needing to ask. “Boyfriends. Significant others. Partners. Whatever you want to label us as, I’ll take it.”

“Lovers?” Louis teased.

“Gross,” Harry said, laughing. “But yeah, if that’s your chosen term, I accept. Because I love you too, you know?”

Louis rubbed the soft skin on the back of Harry’s hand, focusing on the slightly rough patch where a cut was almost finished healing near a knuckle. It felt almost too easy, this whole thing. He could hardly believe it was real.

“This is real, right?” Louis said, looking up through his lashes at Harry. “I’m not going to wake up at the farmhouse, alone and considering closing the inn again, am I?”

“Don’t you dare,” Harry said, eyes wide. “You said ‘again’ as if you’ve considered it before. Did you think about closing the inn?”

“I mean, kind of. But never seriously,” Louis rushed to assure him. “At least I don’t think it was a serious consideration. The guys also very thoroughly convinced me not to, so it’s alright.”

“Promise me you won’t close it,” Harry said, gripping Louis’ hand tightly and shifting so they mostly faced each other. “At least not right now. Not anything really soon. Please, promise me that.”

“I promise,” Louis said, smiling softly. “Does that mean you might return? Come and play with us on the holidays you aren’t already booked, since you’re now a world famous musician?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “You greatly exaggerate my popularity and notoriety. Though I have finally gotten myself an actual manager and she’s helped me get signed to a label, so that’s nice.”

“Oh god, I hope you didn’t sign your life away,” Louis teased. “Seriously, though, congratulations. That’s great.”

“Thanks,” Harry said, smiling. “It still might not amount to anything, but that’s alright. I know I’ve tried, you know?”

Louis nodded. “Yeah.”

“I wish I could go back with you now,” Harry said with a sigh, “but because of all the label stuff and the shows Nick and I still have to perform, I can’t come back with you to the farm just yet. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” Louis said, shaking his head. “I know what it’s like, you’re fine.”

Harry smiled. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to make it, but I’ll let you know once I do. Hopefully for your birthday and Christmas, but no promises.”

“That’s fine. I’m pretty damn happy just knowing we can talk again. I missed talking with you so fucking much,” Louis admitted, closing his eyes. “It was so hard not texting and calling you the moment something happened.”

“Same. It didn’t feel right keeping everything from you.”

“So…” Louis said after a moment of quiet. He checked the time and turned to Harry with a smile. “It seems we still have an hour or so before you need to return to the rehearsal space. Whatever shall we do?”

“Kiss me, you fool,” Harry demanded quietly. “It’s all I’ve really wanted for ages.”

Louis was more than happy to oblige.


	21. Christmas Eve 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you believe we're almost done? So crazy.

Louis was already several hours into the day before he realized what his birthday coming around again meant.

It had been three years since Greg left him.

He felt strange having that realization part of the way through figuring out a way to tweak their rocked out version of Mele Kalikimaka since what they had wasn’t working, but that was how it went sometimes, he supposed. He paused his strumming and set down the pencil he’d kept in his mouth to take notes with. He wasn’t going to get anything done with the song for the time being.

Thinking about Greg still hurt, but not much. Louis wasn’t focused on forgetting or just getting through the day this year like he had been before. He wasn’t even manically running around the inn trying to make sure that everything was perfect like he was last year, doing everything possible to distract himself and try to forge a new and happier path.

Instead he was alternating between hopeful that Harry would still show up since he had promised to do his best to try, and angry with himself for constantly checking to see if Harry had arrived when he knew the chances were slim.

Louis was being ridiculous. Harry never promised anything, but it was such a big deal for Louis. One year since he’d opened the inn. One year since their first performance as a band. 

It was also his first birthday since they’d said “I love you” and Louis really wanted to actually spend his birthday, a day that was pretty much always overlooked for a variety of mostly understandable reasons, with the one person he maybe wanted to be with forever. 

Louis physically straightened up when he realized he’d just considered Harry in the context of forever, which was ridiculous. Far too soon, at the very least. Shit. Louis checked over his shoulder and saw he was still alone in the studio, the one place he could work without worrying about someone interrupting him.

And yet, he still kept hoping for Harry to pop in and do exactly that. 

Shaking his head, Louis tried to focus his thoughts, but it wasn’t easy. It now felt like his head was cluttered with thoughts Greg, Harry, and even his birthday and the show tonight taking up space in there. He needed to figure out a way to quiet his mind down and allow himself to work a bit again.

Louis glanced at the clock so he knew how much time he had. It was only 9:30, but he’d been up and running since he got a phone call at 5:30 and hadn’t been able to get back to sleep after that. He had been able to get a lot done before the farm really got bustling with the workers and their preparations, so that had been good. 

Considering his head start, he might have until noon to himself in the studio before he needed to get back out into the thick of it, but when he emerged he really did need to have the new version of Mele Kelikimaka ready. Glancing at the paper, he did think he was almost there… maybe he could allow himself to just mess around with another song. Only for a little bit.

Louis flipped through his notebook to the song he’d started the other night when he couldn’t sleep. Songwriting was a tool he’d used for years now to help calm his thoughts and work through whatever was going on with him at that time. Hopefully it would work again and allow him to get back to everything he had going on today with much better focus than he’d had before.

Louis started recording with his phone so he could come back to it if he needed to and strummed a few chords. He just wanted to get himself back into the mood of the song again, but soon enough he started humming along, singing lyrics when he had them. 

It was a faster song, one he could imagine rocking out to and having a lot of fun performing. It was going well until he hit the chorus, which was where he always got stuck. Today—unlike what usually happened for him with a chorus—the words flowed from him and he started scribbling them down, the melody playing in his head constantly.

Losing himself to the music, Louis dug into it and hoped it would help him face the rest of the day, whether Harry showed up later or not.

*~~***~~*

“Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt,” Zayn apologized as he poked his head into the studio. “It’s kind of important though.”

“No, it’s all good,” Louis said, stopping the recording on his phone. He’d finished the first complete version of the song just now, anyway, and it had only been an hour. Insane. “So what’s up?”

“Jenna just had to send Kara home, she’s super sick,” Zayn explained. “The issue is that John went with her because he’d been feeling nauseous for a little bit too, which is how Kara felt when she woke up so they’re afraid that whatever she’s got, she gave to him, so you’re now down your lead server and a cook.”

“Shit,” Louis cursed, immediately grabbing his phone and heading to his office across the hall. “I don’t know who I have that would be available on Christmas Eve at the last minute.”

“Well, I might know someone.” Zayn stood in the middle of the room, looking completely nonplussed. Louis hoped he really did know someone that could help them out. “At least for the cook position. That’s why I wanted to be the one to come to you instead of Jenna.”

“Yeah? Who do you know?”

“His name’s Shawn. He just moved to Bethlehem, actually, which is how I met him.” 

Louis nodded. Liam’s sister lived in Bethlehem and had just had twins this past summer. Liam and Zayn had been spending a lot of time with her to help out and had fallen in love with the city.

“And he wouldn’t mind leaving his family on Christmas Eve?” Louis asked, skeptical.

“He’s Canadian,” Zayn said, shrugging. “He was going to be spending tomorrow with Ruth, but he didn’t really have plans other than that.”

“And he can cook?”

Zayn lit up visibly in a way he rarely did. “Oh my god, Lou, you have  _ no _ idea. He’s amazing.”

“I’m not sure if it’s ironic or sad that we’re calling this man to ask him to leave  _ Bethlehem _ so he can work at an inn on Christmas Eve,” Louis said, a wry smile growing before he finally couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “Alright, well do you wanna call him or would he be alright with me calling him out of the blue?”

“Please call him and put him on speakerphone,” Zayn said, pulling out his phone already. “I really want to hear his reaction when he realizes who’s calling him.”

Louis shook his head. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because it’s fun,” Zayn said with a shrug.

Louis narrowed his eyes. “You’re lucky you’re pretty.”

Zayn flipped some imaginary hair over his shoulder and then they got to work.

*~~***~~*

“Thanks again, Kristine. We really appreciate you being able to come help out on such short notice.” Louis watched Jenna lead Kristine away, his hands on his hips. This was why he never celebrated his birthday. Christmas Eve was never even remotely calm enough to do so. 

“Hi, uh, sorry, but I’m Shawn? I wasn’t actually told where to park or where to go once I got here, so…”

Louis spun around and found a tall, pale man with a riot of dark brown curls on top of his head. He was beautiful and moved with grace as he nervously entered the house.

“I’m sorry for just walking in, but I did knock.”

Louis chuckled. “You’re fine. Sorry, I was busy getting our new server connected with her new boss and I didn’t hear you. I’m Louis. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Shawn stepped forward to grasp Louis’ outstretched hand in his own. “Yeah, I know. It’s great to meet you. I’m a big fan of DOUBLE GAMMON.”

“Oh, thanks, man.” Louis smiled and nodded at the front. “So let’s get your car taken care of and then I’ll take you to meet Sarah. She’s the head chef.”

It turned out that Shawn had correctly guessed where to park, so Louis was able to lead him right over to the kitchen attached to the performing barn. Shawn seemed like a pretty quiet guy, not at all the chatty Cathy that Zayn had described him to be, and Louis was having a bit of a hard time drumming up a conversation with him. 

Just when he was about to give up, a body slammed right into Louis, knocking him into the snow.

“Boss man, where have you been hiding?” Niall yelled in Louis’ ear before he was able to process that he was now cold and wet in the snow bank.

“Niall, what the fuck?” Louis asked, shoving Niall off of him so he could get up and try to brush off the snow that hadn’t immediately melted and soaked into his clothes.

“It’s your birthday and I haven’t even seen you to wish you a happy birthday,” Niall said, pouting.

“So you decided to tackle me in the snow?” Louis asked, confused.

Niall stood up and shrugged, completely unbothered by the layer of white that now covered the entire left side of his body. “Yeah, basically. Didn’t want you to disappear on me again.”

Louis blinked at Niall and shook his head. “Yeah, alright. Niall, this is Shawn. He’s filling in for Kara in the kitchen for us. Shawn, this is Niall.”

Louis was about to turn back to brushing the snow off of himself, but he couldn’t because the two men in front of him weren’t even saying anything, much less actually greeting each other. Niall was entirely red in the face and giving Shawn the most ridiculous smile Louis had ever seen while Shawn stood, gaping at Niall as he spoke gibberish.

“Right, so, Sarah is likely behind schedule now and would probably appreciate having another set of hands to help out,” Louis said slowly.

“Oh, right,” Niall said, finally taking a deep breath and looking much more like his normal self. He shifted the thick, woolen hat on his head a little bit, which only served to get more snow melting onto his cheek, then gave a wave. “Nice to meet you, then.”

“Yeah, same,” Shawn said before turning and walking into the barn without waiting for Louis.

“You, don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back in a minute,” Louis said, jabbing a finger into Niall’s chest.

Niall, for his part, didn’t say anything. He just continued to watch the space where Shawn had disappeared.

Shaking his head, Louis turned around and rushed into the performance barn after Shawn so he wouldn’t get swallowed up in the chaos that was the pre-show hours.


	22. Christmas Eve 2025

“Woah, where’d you go, there?” Niall asked, laughing a little as he waved his hand in front of Louis’ face. 

They were in the middle of their final rehearsal and sound check, and Louis had apparently zoned out on everyone as he stared at the door, longing for Harry. His brain had decided that since he had been able to get everything that had gone wrong before the rehearsal started taken care of, it could now put all of it’s working power into trying to make Harry walk through the door. It was getting pathetic.

“You’re one to talk,” Louis teased back, arching a brow. Based on Niall’s blush, he knew Louis was referring to his awkward introduction to Shawn. He had disappeared before Louis had returned, and Louis wasn’t able to find him again before turning his attention to another problem that needed fixing. “We still need to talk about that, you know.”

“Nothing to talk about,” Niall answered quickly, eyes wide and begging Louis to stay quiet in front of the others. 

There wasn’t a chance in hell that would happen, but they really did need to focus on the music right now. 

“What we  _ do _ need to talk about is Marshmallow World,” Zayn said, watching the two of them blankly.

“Right, sorry. I’m having a hard time focusing today. Everyone feeling solid on that one?”

“Yeah, pretty straight forward,” Liam said, tapping the bass drum a bit. “You’ve been putting it off, but we need to rehearse White Christmas. Especially if Harry’s not gonna be able to make it. Have to make sure we’re ready to do it without him.”

“I know,” Louis said, sighing. “Alright, fine. Let’s do it.”

Niall started the song off with a quick simple solo of the tune of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas before everyone else joined in and changed over to the melody of White Christmas. After the intro had played, Louis stepped up to the microphone, ready to sing Harry’s part. He opened his mouth and, right as he started singing, the doors to the barn burst open.

“Don’t tell me I’ve missed my song!” Harry cried, holding his guitar up high so he could maneuver around the tables and chairs without issue.

Louis’ face broke out into a wide grin and he was suddenly filled with such… it wasn’t relief, what was it? Peace, maybe. Like things finally felt right again having Harry there.

“Your song?” Zayn scoffed. “Fucking rude, man. Are the rest of us just your back up singers?”

Harry paused in front of the stage and with a cocky grin said, “If it was any other song, I’d say no, but this one? It’s  _ mine.” _ Then Harry looked at Louis and said, “Well. It’s ours, anyway.”

“Fucking right, it’s ours,” Louis said, smiling. “Get your ass on this stage and plug in. Hey, Laura!”

One of the women getting the tables ready for dinner stopped and turned around. “Can you get Caitlin for me? We’re going to need the keyboard after all, and this rehearsal is gonna be longer than expected.”

“Sure thing,” Laura said, handing someone else the tablecloth she had been holding before rushing out to tend to Louis’ request.

“You got our arrangements for the songs we sent you, right?” Liam asked, looking concerned.

Harry nodded. “Yeah, practiced best I could around everything else, so I’m hopefully pretty solid, but not sure how it’ll go with rest of you.”

They’d done their best to do arrangements that could easily add Harry in, but they hadn’t given much practice time to the versions that would include Harry. He hadn’t thought he could make it, despite wanting to and promising to try. That was the main reason Louis felt so ridiculous watching constantly for him to arrive. 

And now, here he was, just like Louis had been wishing for all day. It also meant they had a lot of work ahead of them, though.

“Wanna start from the top again?” Louis suggested. 

“Might as well,” Niall said. “We’re running out of time, and it’s going to feel entirely different with another voice and the shifted arrangements, so we should be sure we’re as close to perfect as we can be.”

Nodding, Louis said, “Alright. The Chimney Song it is. Harry, you ready?”

Harry plugged in and strummed, tuning to Niall quickly, then smiling at Louis. “Yeah, let’s do this.”

“Count us off, Li.”

*~~***~~*

The rehearsal took longer than expected, which of course threw off everything else for Louis timing wise. It was a good problem for him to have. He loved knowing that Harry was actually there, even if he was still with the guys, rehearsing in a back room of the barn while dinner kicked off and Louis ran around putting out some proverbial fires that had come up thanks to an incoming ice storm.

He threw on his ugly Christmas sweater and vowed to eat after the show as he ran to grab his guitar and warm up his voice with the guys so they wouldn’t be too late getting on stage.

When he rushed into the room, he just stood for a moment and basked in the warmth. He’d thought he could go without his coat for the jog over, but the temperatures really had dropped more than he’d expected in such a short time. The wind had felt like it was cutting right down to his insides, and all he wanted was to be held and warmed up.

Without saying anything to interrupt the conversation, Louis walked up to Harry and tucked himself into his side. Harry didn’t even miss a beat, he kept talking to Zayn and Liam as he raised his arm and pulled Louis close, rubbing his arm in an attempt to help him warm up quicker. Louis appreciated it.

As soon as he was warm enough he wasn’t shivering anymore, Louis kissed Harry’s shoulder quickly in thanks before giving Harry a soft glance and smile, moving to grab his guitar.

“Alright, let’s warm up, get tuned, and go!” Louis instructed.

The entire time they did their ridiculous warm ups, Harry would not stop staring at Louis. It was both unsettling and everything Louis wanted. He craved Harry’s attention, so having it so completely was like having his deepest wish come true.

As they took the stage, the crowd went wild, but to Louis it felt like everyone screamed a little louder when Harry followed the other four out. Once they’d sung their opening song, Louis stepped up to the mic.

“Welcome to my birthday party!” he yelled, raising his arms in the air as everyone cheered with him. “I’m only kind of kidding. For real, though, do you see who has come back to join us after his fancy world tour with  _ the _ DJ Grimmy?”

Louis looked over at Harry and found him already looking at Louis as he shook his head. His nose was scrunched up, which Louis knew meant he loved the attention from him, so he knew it was fine.

“He’s a big shot now,” Niall said. 

“Yep, even did a Christmas special for TV,” Liam joined in. “So give a big welcome back to our newest superstar, Harry!”

“I hate you guys,” Harry said into the microphone before raising his hands in the air while the crowd cheered louder. “Thank you, thank you. Let’s focus on Louis again, yeah? He’s the birthday boy, after all. He’s the reason I busted my ass to get here in time for the show.”

Louis turned to look at Harry so quickly when he said that, pain shot through his neck, but he didn’t care. 

Harry just gave him a knowing smile. “The next song is an underrated modern classic originally sung by the great Stephen Colbert. This is Another Christmas Song!”

The issues Louis had focusing when he was missing Harry earlier in the day didn’t dissipate having him there. Now Louis had a hard time focusing because Harry  _ was _ there. The audience Louis should have been singing to were right there, and instead he couldn’t help constantly turning to Harry. He was right there!

The issue really came down to the fact that Harry had been right there for hours now, but they still hadn’t gotten a chance to have a moment alone. It was like the universe was taunting Louis, allowing him to have Harry, but only at arm’s length.

The show ended with the same arrangement of White Christmas that they had sung the year before, and soon enough they were taking their bows and running off stage.

“Zee, babe, did you see that guy standing in the doorway, stage left?” Liam asked as soon as they were in the practice room.

“Oh my god, I hoped you saw him,” Zayn said, turning to look at Liam. “He’s so fucking pretty, isn’t he? He’s Shawn! The one I met when I picked up our Chinese last time we were at Ruth’s.”

“Ohhhhh, everything you said before makes sense now.” Liam looked like he was finally putting puzzle pieces together. “He really is like the male version of Snow White.”

“What is this, some sort of strange foreplay the two of you have?” Niall snapped. “Come on, he’s a person, you know. Not some fairy tale character or someone to just lust after.”

“Oh fuck off,” Zayn shot back. “I actually know the dude, okay? If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t even be here, so take a deep breath and calm down.”

“I’m just saying that maybe you should remember there’s more to him than just his looks, alright?”

Louis scrunched up his face. “You’re awfully quick to try to defend him considering you could barely get a word out when talking to him earlier, much less a full sentence.”

“Ohhhhh,” Zayn said, laughing and walking towards Niall, poking him in his side where he knew he was ticklish. “I see the issue. Our little Niall thinks he’s pretty too!”

Niall rolled his eyes, shoved his guitar case into the locker, and then walked towards the door. “Whatever. I’ll see you fuckers later.”

When he slammed the door shut, Louis turned to the rest of them. “Damn. I didn’t expect him to be so touchy so fast. I mean, I kind of thought he was straight until he acted the way he did around Shawn earlier. Think we should go after him?”

“Nah, he’s like that sometimes,” Liam said with a shrug. “He gets really sensitive about things he doesn’t fully understand yet, and it sounds like he’s got it bad for Shawn already which might be confusing him or something.”

Louis nodded and finished taking care of his guitar. He’d just zipped it shut when Harry’s arms wrapped around his waist from behind, his chin tucking into Louis’ neck.

“Hey,” he said, leaning forward and kissing Louis’ jaw. “Happy Birthday-mas.”

Louis chuckled. “Thanks.” Turning to Harry, he leaned forward for a quick kiss, the first real kiss they’d been able to manage after a month apart. It felt cruel, honestly. “I missed you.”

Harry smiled and pressed his nose into Louis’ cheek. “Missed you too. Think when things have calmed down a little bit later tonight, we could chat a bit?”

Louis couldn’t help the worry that began to grow and knot in his stomach. Based on how Harry had been acting the entire time Louis had been around and the fact he had shown up at all, he really didn’t think it was bad, but he still couldn’t help but have worst case scenarios pop up in his head. Historically, the day didn’t exactly hold a good track record for him, after all.

“Yeah, of course.”

Louis studied his face as best he could in such close proximity when there was a knock at the door before it opened.

“Hey, Louis,” one of the managers on the hospitality side popped her head in. “The weather has turned for the worse. I’m thinking we need to make an announcement that those who are staying elsewhere need to head out now if they want a chance to get there safely, even with the salt trucks that have been through prepping the roads out here.”

Louis nodded. He’d spent hours earlier today with the company he kept on contract to take care of the roads all the way out by them on nights like this. They did the best they could, but ultimately Mother Nature held the upper hand.

“Yeah, of course. Thanks.” Turning in Harry’s arms, Louis pressed another quick kiss to Harry’s lips. “Duty calls.”

Harry smiled and nodded. “Go on out there and make sure everyone can stay safe.”

Louis wished he could be selfish and stay in Harry’s arms, but he knew he couldn’t. So once again, he saw to everyone else’s well being, and hoped his own would hold out until he was able to focus on himself.


	23. Christmas Eve 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe _get in, Niall_

Things at the inn were finally quiet and it  _ might _ be past one in the morning, but Louis was only just able to reheat his plate to eat dinner. Sarah had shoved him a roll with a piece of ham on it earlier while he had done what he could to rush around and get people safely where they needed to be before the roads got so bad they’d have to find emergency accommodations somewhere on the property. It had been enough to eat at the time, but his stomach definitely was hating him a little bit at the moment for putting a real meal off for so long.

He couldn’t fully enjoy the food, though. All he could think about was that Harry asked to talk. He had wanted to talk to Harry as soon as things were finally quiet on the property, but Louis couldn’t find him anywhere. Plus, he was getting a little shaky from doing so much that day with so little food, so he finally headed back to the kitchen where Sarah told him his plate was waiting in the fridge.

Louis mechanically chewed his food, barely even noticing what he was doing. His brain just kept supplying various things Harry could possibly want to talk about.

Did Harry still want to try dating, but didn’t want to do the inn more permanently like he had said before? Maybe he’d gotten connected with a really great producer and was going to go to some fancy tropical location to stay with him there for months, focusing on his art. It wasn’t unheard of, in fact a lot of artists swore by it. They said it was a great way to shut out the world and focus only on the music.

Maybe Harry needed to shut out Louis for a little bit so he could focus on his music.

Or maybe Harry was interested in Louis, but wasn’t interested in a  _ relationship _ with Louis. Louis knew a little about aromantic identities because after touring for a few years with DOUBLE GAMMON, there had been photos leaked online of Dane’s person kissing someone in a cafe who wasn’t Dane. Louis had been ready to rip Mark’s head off, but Dane explained it was fine and not to worry about it. He then tried to explain that he and Mark weren’t in a relationship exactly, which was why they weren’t boyfriends. It took years for Dane and Mark to learn there was a term for it, that he was aromantic, and Louis never fully did understand the whole thing, but he had done his best to learn about it and what a relationship looked like for them. Mark was sexually attracted to people, but didn’t need or want a traditional relationship, and the way he and Dane navigated things worked for them, which was great.

If Harry identified like Mark, would Louis be able to handle that? Dane really did seem to be happy with the way they structured things, but Louis couldn’t imagine  _ not _ calling Harry his boyfriend and everything that came with being partners. He loved being in a relationship and all that it entailed. If it was something Harry wanted, then he would probably try his best, but in the end he wasn’t sure he could do it. 

Then again, hadn’t they discussed the boyfriend thing already? Louis was pretty sure he’d even called Harry his boyfriend in one of their texting conversations, and he’d never responded negatively.

Okay, so it probably wasn’t that. Fuck, Louis was exhausted just thinking about the various possibilities that Harry might want to talk to him about, and the conversation hadn’t even happened yet.

“Fuck!”

Louis froze, a scoop of mashed potatoes halfway to his mouth to see if he could hear anything else. The voice had sounded like it was somewhere in the backyard, but he didn’t recognize it right away.

“Oh my god, are you alright?”

Okay, that was definitely Niall. Getting up to see if whoever was out there might need his help, Louis was almost to the kitchen door when he saw Niall and Shawn through the large window.

Eyes widening, Louis looked around and hurried so he was crouched down by the corner of the window. Hopefully if he just peeked out of the corner of it, he could still watch whatever was happening with them without them realizing he was there.

“Yeah, just didn’t balance right and lost my footing,” Shawn said, wincing as he shifted onto his knees. “Didn’t wear the right shoes for ice.”

“You’d think with the fancy restaurant shoes that have that extra grip, you’d do alright on ice,” Niall said, leaning down to grab Shawn’s hands and help him up.

They said something more, white puffs of air coming from their mouths, but no matter how much Louis strained, he couldn’t hear what they were saying clearly enough to follow the conversation.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Niall cursed as he started slipping, pulling Shawn’s hands closer.

It was like Louis was watching an action sequence in slow motion. Niall’s left foot suddenly slid right into the snow, making his balance lurch to the side. Shawn had let go of Niall’s hands since he was somewhat firm in his stance, but as Niall was falling, he blindly grabbed whatever he could find, which just happened to be Shawn’s waist and the two of them tumbled onto the snow, which didn’t look very soft. It had a pretty decent layer of ice on top of it, at this point, and Louis could hear the crunch as they fell into it.

Shawn was laying flat on top of Niall, and they’d gone quiet again.

“Come on, man, make your move,” Louis whispered. 

Shawn started trying to get up, but paused in his movements when he was holding himself above Niall before leaning down for what was obviously a kiss. When Niall’s arms wrapped around Shawn’s neck, Louis did a fist pump before crawling away from the window.

He was kind of jealous that Niall had already had more quality time with Shawn today than Louis had gotten with Harry, but he also couldn’t help but be happy for him. Niall hadn’t had much luck on the dating front the past few years, so Louis hoped that maybe Shawn could change that for him.

Standing up again, Louis headed back to the table. Thankfully, the two of them had been enough of a distraction that his negative thoughts had gone quiet for the moment and he was able to enjoy what was left of his dinner.

But then Louis heard them coming towards the kitchen door. He brushed his hands off on the napkin in preparation to tease them, but then he realized now wasn’t the time. Shawn was very clearly being pressed into the kitchen door by Niall.

“Come to my room?”

“Fuck,” Louis muttered. Looking at the plate, he realized he didn’t have time. He needed to get out of there, and fast if he didn’t want to interrupt what was clearly the beginnings of a good night for the two of them.

The door handle started turning, so Louis dropped to the floor again and crawled as fast as he could to hide behind the counter. As long as neither of them turned to look behind them as they entered the living room, he’d never be caught, hiding like a child.

There was some giggling as the door creaked open and then shut again, the two of them taking a moment to get their shoes off and hanging up their coats before the sound of kisses and soft moans started up. 

Louis winced. He sure hoped no one ever witnessed him like this. The sounds of kissing and sex never bothered him so much when it was him or his partner making them and they were in the midst of it, but listening to  _ others _ doing the same things was not nearly as sexy.

The sound of the two of them bumping into the table rang out as the silverware jostled on the plate enough to make it louder than it would have normally been.

“Who’s dinner is that?” Shawn asked. “It looks like it’s still pretty fresh.”

“Dunno,” Niall whispered. “Honestly, don’t really care. Just want to get you upstairs so I can see all of you.  _ Feel _ all of you.”

“Fuck,” Shawn whined a little. “Yeah, alright.”

Louis was incredibly tense. If he was going to be found, it would be in the next few moments. He didn’t dare move, he was barely breathing. He only allowed his eyes to follow them so he knew when it was safe to come out from his hiding spot.

They were almost fully in the living room, the two of them still wrapped up in each other, but taking a breather from the kissing, presumably so they wouldn’t run into any more furniture. Louis was almost safe, but right at the last second, Shawn turned his head and looked right at him.

His brows furrowed and he opened his mouth, clearly to ask some sort of a question, but Louis hurriedly shook his head, holding a finger to his lips and motioned for him to keep quiet.

“What’s that?” Niall asked, probably because Shawn had stopped walking.

Shawn glanced back at Louis once more before turning to Niall with a smile. “Nothing. Just thought I saw something.”

Niall muttered something as they walked fully into the living room, and Louis was honestly grateful he didn’t have to hear what it was. He’d heard more than enough for one night.

When he heard the creaks indicating they were at least halfway up the staircase, Louis sighed with relief. Maybe  _ now _ he could finally finish his dinner.

Louis made his way back to the table and took a sip of water before digging back into the remains of his ham. He hummed at it happily and took a bite.

It had gone cold.

What a way to end his birthday. A cold meal, and  _ still _ no Harry to be found.


	24. Christmas Eve 2025

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it! This is the last chapter and tomorrow will be the epilogue. Thank you so much for taking this journey with me and having a bit of fun in this little world.
> 
> Massive, MASSIVE thanks once again go to [Maggie](https://disgruntledkittenface.tumblr.com) and [Molly](https://becomeawendybird.tumblr.com). They helped this fic be so much better and flow nicely, and supported me when I was getting unsure of myself. Thank youuuuu!!! I couldn't do this without my Margarets. hehe
> 
> Happy Louis Day, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays :D

“Is it still Christmas Eve if we haven’t gone to bed yet?”

Louis jolted awake. He hadn’t even realized he had dozed off. Last thing he remembered was sitting in the picture window in the living room, wrapped up in a blanket, as the fire blazed nearby. The snow and ice coming down had been so soothing and beautiful to watch, it must have lulled him to sleep without his even realizing it. 

“What?” Louis asked, yawning and stretching a little bit.

“Is it still Christmas Eve if we haven’t gone to bed yet?” Harry asked. “I guess it is technically Christmas Day by now, but since we haven’t slept yet, it still feels like Christmas Eve.”

Louis just stared at him. He didn’t know the answer to Harry’s question. He also didn’t know which answer Harry actually preferred to hear. He was a bit foggy from the tiny bit of rest he’d gotten and his brain very well might have turned to mush.

“It’s an important question, because I need to know if I should still be referring to you as the birthday boy or not,” Harry said with a smirk before settling down in front of where Louis was curled up, fitting himself as best he could into the space that remained on the window seat.

“Definitely still my birthday,” Louis said, smiling. He was waking up a little bit now, which was nice. “My birthday wish was to have you here with me, but I’ve barely seen you. It can’t be the next day until my wish has come true  _ and _ I’ve been able to take advantage of it.”

“Ah, okay,” Harry said, smiling. “Sorry I couldn’t get here earlier.”

Louis shook his head. “No, don’t apologize. I’m just really happy you could make it at all.”

Harry nodded and looked at his lap, but didn’t say anything. Considering he was the one who said he wanted to talk and Louis had been stressing about it ever since he had mentioned it, Louis wasn’t particularly pleased that he wasn’t bringing up whatever it was he wanted to talk about already.

“Harry?”

Harry looked up at him expectantly.

“Can you please put me out of my misery and tell me what you want to talk about?”

Harry’s eyes widened. “Shit, I freaked you out, didn’t I? Oh god, it’s the anniversary of when all that… fuck, I’m so sorry. I promise it’s nothing like that, okay? Not at all. Kind of the opposite, actually.”

Louis was incredibly confused. “What’s the opposite of breaking off our engagement the night before the wedding and running off with my best friend? Leaving the best friend to come and propose the night before the wedding? Are we getting married tomorrow?”

Harry honked out a laugh before Louis shushed him a little, and they both giggled a little more.

“No, not quite,” Harry said, still chuckling. “Can we sit somewhere a little more comfortable? Plus, I really have missed you and we didn’t get nearly enough time together in DC. I’d also like to hold you while we talk, if you’re alright with that.”

Louis nodded. “Yeah. Come on upstairs. We can talk in my room.”

Harry held his hand out and helped Louis stand up before lacing their fingers together. They quietly made their way upstairs where the other rooms were dark and quiet. Louis switched on the Christmas lights that he hung around the doors to the balcony as Harry closed the bedroom door behind them. 

Louis nodded towards the bed, and they settled down onto it, easily coming together and finding a position that was comfortable for them both.

“So…” Louis prompted.

“So…” Harry dragged out before taking a deep breath. “Does your studio happen to be available for use for the the next little while?”

Louis snorted. “Yeah. It’s mostly just me who uses it between holidays. Why?”

“Because I kind of talked to the label and management and they agreed to let me work on my songs here at your studio. They even said that Jeff Bhasker was willing to come up here to work on it with us.”

Louis paused the path his fingers had been tracing on Harry’s shirt when he heard the last word. “Us?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, sounding unsure again. “I… kind of said that I worked well with you and that I wanted to continue our songwriting relationship if I could. They liked what we had come up with together already, so they were alright with it if you are.”

Louis sat up and stared at Harry. “So what you wanted to talk about was the fact that you’d stay here, write and record your album here, and still be able to do the holiday shows? So you won’t really have to leave like we assumed you would?”

Harry’s face was alternately red and green as the lights faded in and out, and Louis could see the nerves in his expression.

“Only if you’re okay with that. I know that’s a lot really fast and it would be like we’re basically living together with no end date in sight, but—”

“Fuck yes,” Louis said, lunging forward for a kiss, the first decent and private kiss they’d been able to manage since Harry had shown up.

Louis allowed himself to really sink into it and take in everything he’d missed about Harry. His taste, his smell, even the way his stubble scraped at his chin. Louis loved it all and had missed it so much. It felt right in a way that only music ever had before. 

“So you’re okay with it?” Harry asked when both of them paused for breath.

Louis had started kissing down Harry’s jawline like he’d been dreaming of for weeks now, but he couldn’t help huffing out a laugh as he leaned his head on Harry’s chest. He was finally feeling the exhaustion flow through him now that he knew what Harry wanted to talk about and it really hadn’t been anything bad at all. If anything, it had been the best news he could have imagined.

Harry wasn’t leaving. He could stay. This very well might be the best birthday present Louis had ever gotten.

“I’m more than okay with it,” Louis sighed, peace flooding him and making him feel settled in a way he hadn’t thought he’d be able to experience again. “I’m beyond okay with it. I’m so fucking happy, Harry.”

“Good,” Harry said, pressing a kiss to the top of Louis’ head. “I was hoping you’d like it.”

“Love it,” Louis said, pressing in closer to Harry before maneuvering the blankets out from underneath them so they were covered. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Harry said, quietly. “Happy birthday. And Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, babe.”


	25. Christmas Day 2026

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm stupid emotional over posting this now. This fic was such a labor of love and was never intended to be this long, though those I brainstormed the original idea to all laughed at me and said "duh" when I kept sending them shocked messages over how long it was becoming lol 
> 
> Thank you so much to those of you who read through this as a WIP! This is by far the most comments I've ever had on a fic, and it's not even complete. Amazing. To those of you reading this as a completed work, thank you for coming and reading my baby! It is now my second longest fic I've ever posted and the longest Larry fic. So crazy.
> 
> So, once again, thank you for coming on this journey with me, whenever you joined in. Merry Christmas.
> 
> _While the merry bells keep ringing, may your every wish come true._

“Thank you so much for joining us in celebrating Christmas together,” Niall yelled into the microphone. “And thank you for helping us celebrate these two disgusting lovebirds.”

Louis flipped him off, but couldn’t find it in himself to do more than laugh. His soon-to-be-husband didn’t seem to care that they were on a stage in front of a crowd of almost 500. He couldn’t keep his hands to himself. He had slid his arms around Louis’ waist so he had his hands flat on Louis’ tummy beneath his guitar. 

It was probably at least partially because Louis had gotten a bit jittery the closer they had gotten to their wedding date, not able to help the doubt that filled him after the way things had happened the last time. Harry wouldn’t stand for that and was doing everything he possibly could to prove to Louis that there was no way he would ever leave Louis. 

He was doing a damn good job of it, too.

“It’s going to be strange not standing up here in front of you guys for New Year’s this year, but we’ve got a different kind of party to be at,” Zayn said, winking at the two of them. “We hope to have you join us again in February for Valentine’s Day, though.”

Louis wasn’t even listening to any of them talk anymore. It didn’t feel real, knowing that he and Harry would be married in a week’s time and on their way to Jamaica. The following year was going to be pretty crazy for them. Getting married and going on their honeymoon to kick off the year, plus Harry’s album was now almost done. He was going to be scheduling as much of his promo tour as possible around the holidays, and Louis? Well, he planned to be with Harry for as much of it as he could.

“Before we let you go, though, I have a little surprise for everyone.”

As soon as Louis heard Liam’s declaration, he turned excitedly to watch his friend get out from behind his drum kit. Zayn was watching him like he was crazy.

“What are you doing?” Zayn asked, watching as Niall handed Liam a mic.

“Thanks, man,” Liam said with a smile. He walked towards Zayn and stopped right in front of him. “Zayn, I told you I had one last gift for you, but it wouldn’t be ready until tonight.”

“Yeah,” Zayn said slowly, eyeing the crowd before turning back to his boyfriend.

“Well,” Liam said with a smile before suddenly stiffening and turning towards the crowd. “Wait, Shawn? Are you here?”

“Shawn?” Zayn repeated, clearly even more confused than he already had been.

Shawn came jogging up to the stage, the audience easily making a path for him. Without saying a word, he handed a small, purple velvet box to Liam and only then did Zayn seem to put it all together.

“Oh my god, no you are not,” he said, already starting to cry. “Liam James...”

“Zee, you know I’ve loved you ever since you got suspended in the seventh grade for being smarter than Mr. Chase and daring to prove it in front of the entire class.”

Zayn let out a wet chuckle, his hand covering his mouth and nose, his eyes rimmed red. 

“I didn’t realize it yet, but fuck. I was so in love with you. You were my best friend and the best thing in my life, and I’m lucky enough to say you still are. I want to be able to say that for forever, if you’ll have me.” Liam dropped down to one knee, and it was then that Zayn covered his entire face, his shoulders shaking. 

Liam didn’t mind. He was more than willing to hold the position with the ring outstretched until Zayn was ready. Someone handed up a travel packet of tissues and Liam grabbed it and gently nudged Zayn’s elbow with it.

“Thank you,” he said, sniffling and pulling one out. Once he had sufficiently wiped his face, Zayn took a deep breath and focused on Liam again. “Okay, babe. Go for it.”

Liam laughed a little, holding the ring out again. “Zayn Javaad Malik, will you marry me?”

Zayn nodded fervently before dropping down to his own knees to pull Liam in for a wet kiss. 

“Yes, you asshole,” he said before leaning in for another kiss. “You made me cry in front of all these people, but I still love you for some reason. Please give me the ring? I want the ring.”

The two of them were now crying together and Liam’s hands were shaky actually getting the ring on, but eventually they managed.

As they came together in another kiss, Louis grabbed his own microphone and said, “Congratulations, you two, and Merry Christmas, everyone! Feel free to stay after for Mr. and Mr. DJ Payno’s dance party extravaganza!”

As soon as Zayn and Liam stood up, the other three converged on them, hugging them tightly.

“I can’t believe you guys planned this, there’s going to be so many videos of my crying on stage now,” Zayn whined. “None of you are invited to the wedding.”

“What about me?” Liam asked, sounding shocked. “I mean, it really is my fault this happened right now, but it would be a shame to miss my own wedding.”

Zayn sighed as they all pulled away from their group hug. “I guess I’ll make an exception for you. I do love you an awful lot.”

“Disgusting,” Harry said, frowning and making a face. “How do people stand being around you two?”

“Oh, that’s rich,” Niall said, laughing. “Come on, guys. It’s time to celebrate.”

And celebrate, they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _May the calendar keep bringing happy holidays to you._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I would love any kudos or kind comments you feel inspired to share, and I would also very much love it if you [shared the tumblr post](https://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/636329760977485824/im-dreaming-of-a-one-night-inn-by-lululawrence). Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all of that jazz.


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